% .  i .  a. : 
LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.   N.  J. 

Presented  by 

\T\rs.\Ah\\\£Am  c)\JJcAr\ . 

Division.^.^'^m^' 
Section.J.....&...S*3  I 

v.  2. 


&a<**V€*jeL&-     %ft* 


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DBS  3B 

FRIENDo/lIK'ri'E    <C     mlamier  from     ERROR. 


THE 


HISTORY 


OF 


W     O     M    E 


FROM     THE 


EARLIEST  ANTIQUITY,  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME  ; 

GIVING    AN    ACCOUNT    OF    ALMOST    EVERY    INTER- 
ESTING PARTICULAR    CONCERNING    THAT 
SEX,    AMONG  ALL  NATIONS,    ANCIENT 
AND   MODERN. 

WITH  A  COMPLETE  INDEX. 


By  William  Alexander,    M*  D. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOLUME  SECOND. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED    BY    J.  FT.    DODEI.BO  W  E  R, 


CONTENTS 


OF    THE 


SECOND   VOLUME. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 
Of  Delicacy  and  Cbajiity  -  5 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  10 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
Of  the  various  Opinions  entertained  by  different  Na- 
tions concerning  Women  -  t>5 

CHAPTER     XIX. 

The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  51 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Of  Drefs,  Ornament,  and  the  various  other  Methods 
whereby  Women  endeavour  to  render  ihemfelves 
agreeable  to  the  Men.  -  83 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  98 

CHAPTER    XXII. 
The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  121 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Of  Courtjhip  .  .  j  44 

CHAPTER     XXIV. 
The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  165 

CHAPTER     XXV^ 

Of  Matrimony  -  -  186 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

The  fame  Subj 'eel  continued  -  197 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  216 

CHAPTER     XXVIII. 
The  fame  Subjecl  continued  -  241 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

The  fame  Subjecl  continued  .  266 

CHAPTER    XXX. 

Of  Widowhood  -  -  289 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Of  the  Rights,  Privileges,  and  Immunities  of  the 
Women  of  Great  Britain ;  the  Puni foments  to  which 
they  are  liable  by  Law;  and  the  Rcflriclions  they 
are  laid  under  by  Law  and  Cuflom  3 1 5 


THE 


yio 


wy  of 


CHAPTER    XVL 
Of  Delicacy  and  Qb&jiity* 


F  all  the  virtues  which  adorn  the  female 
qhara&er,  and  enable  the  fex  to  fteal  imperceptibly 
into  the  heart,  none  arc  mure  confpicuous 
unaffected  fimplicity  and  fhynefs  of  manners  which 
we  diftinguiih  by  the  name  of  delicacy.  In  the  moll 
rude  and  favage  dates  of  mankind,  however,  deli- 
cacy has  no  exiftence;  in  thofe  where  politenefs  and 
the  various  refinements  connected  with  it  are  carried 
to  excefs,  delicacy  is  difcarded,  as  a  vulgar  and 
unfaflbionable  reftraint  on  the  freedom  of  good 
breeding. 

To  illuftrate  thefe  obfervations,  we.fhall  adduce  a 
few  facts  from  the  hiftory  of  mankind.  Where  the 
human  race  have  little  other  culture  than  what  they 
receive  from  nature,  and  hardly  any  other  ideas  but 
fuch  as  (he  dictates;  the  two  fexes  live  together, 
unconfeious  of  almoft  any  reftraint  oa  their  words 
or  on  their  actions  :  Diodorus  Siculus  mentions 
feveral  nations  among  the  antients,  as  the  Hylo- 
phagi,  and  Icthiophagi,  who  had  fcarcely  anycloath- 
ing,  whole  language  was  exceedingly  imp erff: ft,  and 

VOL,  II.  B 


6  THE  HISTORY 

whofe  manners  were  hardly  diilingui  (liable  from 
thofe  of  the  brutes  which  furrounded  them.  The 
Greeks,  in  the  heroic  ages,  as  appears  from  the 
whole  hiflory  of  their  conduct,  delineated  by  Homer 
and  their  other  poets  and  hiflorians,  were  totally 
unacquainted  with  delicacy.  The  Romans,  in  the 
infancy  of  their  empire,  were  the  fame.  Tacitus 
informs  us,  that  the  ancient  Germans  had  not  fepa- 
rate  beds  for  the  two  fexes,  but  that  they  lay  pro- 
niiicuoufly  on  reeds  or  on  heath  along  the  walls  of 
their  hoafes  ;  a  cuftom  (till  prevailing  in  Lapland, 
among  the  peafauts  of  Norway,  Poland,  and  Ruifia ; 
and  not  altogether  obliterated  in  forae  parts  of  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  and  of  Wales.  In  Terra  del 
Fuego,  on  feveral  places  of  the  Gold  Coafi,  in  the 
Brazils,  and  a  variety  of  other  parts,  the  inhabi- 
tants have  hardly  any  thing  to  cover  their  bodies, 
and  fcarcely  the  lead  inclination  to  canceal  any  natu- 
ral action  from  the  eyes  of  the  public.  In  Otaheite, 
to  appear  naked,  or  in  cloaths,  are  circumftances 
equally  indifferent  to  both  fexes  :  nor  does  any  word 
in  their  language,  nor  any  action  to  which  they  have 
an  inclination,  feem  more  indelicate  or  reprehenfible 
than  another.  Such  are  the  effects  of  a  total  want 
of  culture:  and  effects  not  very  diflimilar  are  in 
France  and  Italy  produced  from  a  redundance  of  it; 
delicacy  is  laughed  out  of  cxiflence  as  a  filly  and 
unfafhionable  weaknefs. 

Among  neople  holding  a  middling  degree,  or 
rather  perhaps  fomething  below  a  middle  degree, 
between  the  mod  uncultivated  rnf./city,  and  the 
mod  refined  politenefs,  we  find  female  delicacy  in 
its  higheft  perfection.  The  Japanefe  are  but  jtift 
emerged  ionic  degrees  above  favagc  barbarity,  and 
in  their  hiflory  we  are  prcfented  by  Kempfer,  with 
an  inftance  of  the  effect  of  delicacy,  which  perhaps 
has  not  a  parallel  in  any  other  country.     A  lady 


OF  WOMEN.  7 

being  at  table  in  a  promifcuous  company,  in  reaching 
for  fomething  that  me  wanted,  accidentally  broke 
wind  backwards,  by  which  her  delicacy  was  fo  much 
wounded,  that  me  immediately  arofe,  laid  hold  on 
her  breads  with  her  teeth,  and  tore  them  tiil  (lie 
expired  on  the  fpot.  In  Scotland,  and  a  few  other 
parts  of  the  north  of  Europe,  where  the  inhabitants 
are  fome  degrees  farther  advanced  in  politenefs  than 
the  Japanefe;  a  woman  would  be  almoit  as  much 
amamed  to  be  detected  going  to  the  temple  of  Cloa- 
cina,  as  to  that  of  Venus.  In  England,  to  go  in 
the  moll:  open  manner  to  that  of  the  former,  hardly 
occafions  a  blulh  on  the  mod  delicate  cheek.  At 
Paris,  we  are  told  that  a  gallant  frequently  accom- 
panies his  miftrefs  to  the  dirine  of  the  goddefs,  ftands 
centinel  at  the  door,  and  entertains  her  with  boa 
mots,  and  protedations  of  love  all  the  time  {he  is 
worfhipping  there;  and  that  a  lady  when  in  a  carri- 
age, whatever  company  be  along  with  her,  if  called 
upon  to  exonerate  nature,  pulls  the  cord,  orders  the 
driver  to  flop,  deps  out,  and  ha.ving  performed 
what  nature  required,  refumes  her  feat  without  the 
lead  ceremony  or  difcompoiure.  The  Pariiian  wo- 
men, as  well  as  thofe  in  many  of  the  other  large 
towns  of  France,  even  in  the  mod  public  companies 
make  no  fcruple  of  talking  concerning  thofe  fecrets 
of  their  fex,  which  almod  in  every  other  country  are 
reckoned  indelicate  in  the  ears  of  the  men:  nay,  fo 
little  is  their  referve  on  this  head,  that  a  young  lady 
on  being  aiked  by  her  lover  to  dance,  will  without 
bludi  or  hefitation,  excufe  herfelf  on  account  of  the 
impropriety  of  doing  fo  in  her  prefent  circumdances. 
The  Italians,  it  is  faid,  carry  their  indelicacy  dill 
farther:  women  even  of  character  and  fafliion,  when 
aiked  a  favour  of  another  kind,  will  with  the  utmofl 
compofure  decline  the  propofal  on  account  of  being 
at  prefent  under  a  courfe  of  medicine  for  the  cure  of 


8  THE  HISTORY 

a  certain  diforder.  When  a  people  have  arrived  at 
that  point  in  the  fcale  of  politenefs,  which  entirely 
difcards  delicacy,  the  chaftity  of  their  women  mult 
beat  a  low  ebb;  for  delicacy  is  the  centinel  that  is 
placed  over  female  virtue,  and  th  it  centinel  once 
ever-come,  chaflityis  more  than  half  conquered. 

From  thefe  obfervations,  a  queftion  of  the  moil 
difficult  determination  arifes.  Is  the  female  delicacy 
natural  or  artificial  ?  if  natural,  it  fhould  be  found 
in  the  highefl  perfection  in  thofe  ftates  where  man- 
kind approach  the  neareft  to  nature  ;  if  artificial, 
it  mould  be  mofl  confpicuous  in  fiates  the  moll  artiii- 
cially  polifhed,  But  notwithftanding  what  we  rela- 
ted in  the  laft  fection,  it  appears  to  be  regulated  by 
no  general  or  fixed  law  in  either.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  coail  of  New  Zealand  are  perhaps  as  little 
cultivated  as  any  on  the  globe,  and  yet  their 
women  were  amamed  to  be  fcen  naked  even  at  a 
di (lance  by  the  Englifh.  In  Otaheite,  where  they 
are  confiderably  more  polifhed,  we  have  already 
feeta  that  they  are  confeious  of  no  fuch  fhame.  4  With 
4  the  mod  innocent  look,'  fays  Hawkefworth,  e  Obe- 
c  rea  their  queen  and  feverai  others,  on  going  io 
'  meet  another  chief  of  the  ifiand,  full  uncovered 
1  their  heads,  and  then  their  bodies  as  low  as  tfie 
6  waid.'  Nor  can  privacy,'  adds  he,  '  be  much 
'  wanted  among  a  people  who  have  not  even  an 
'  idea  of  indecency,  and  who  gratify  every  appetite 
'  ana  paflion  before  witneiTes,  with  no  more  fenfe 
'  of  impropriety  than  we  feel  when  w  e  fatisfy  '  our 
*  hunger  at  the  ibcial  board.'  We  have  ken  that  in 
I  ir.ee  and  Italy,  which  are  reckoned  the  politeft 
coimiries  in  Europe,  women  let  themfelvcs  above 
ihame  and  defpife  delicacy  ;  but  in  China,  one  of 
the  po'liteif  countries  in  Afia,  and  perhaps  not  even 
in  this  refpeft  behind  France  or  Italy,  the  cafe  ii 


OF  WOMEN.  9 

quite  otherwife :  no  being  can  be  fo  delicate  as  a 
women,  in  her  drefs,  in  her  behaviour,  and  conver- 
sation ;  and  fhould  (lie  ever  happen  to  be  expofed 
in  any  unbecoming  manner,  fhe  feels  with  the  great- 
eft  poignancy  the  aukwardnefs  of  her  fituatkm, 
and  if  poifible  covers  her  face  that  fhe  may  not  be 
known.  In  the  midfl  of  fo  many  difcordant  appear- 
ances, the  mind  is  perplexed,  and  hardly  can  fix 
upon  any  caufe  to  which  delicacy,  that  chiefeft  orna- 
ment of  the  fair  fex,  can  be  aicribed  :  ihoulu  We 
afcribe  it  to  cullom  only,  we  would  do  violence  to 
our  own  inclinations,  as  we  would  willingly  trace 
it  to  a  nobler  fource.  In  profecuting  this  attempt, 
let  us  attend  to  the  whole  of  the  animal  creation  ; 
let  us  confider  it  attentively,  and  wherever  ft  falls 
under  our  obfervatL.n,  it  will  difcover  to  us  that  in 
the  female  there  is  a  greater  degree  of  delicacy  or  coy 
referve  than  in  the  male  :  is  not  this  a  proof  that 
through  the  wide  extent  of  the  creation,  the  feeds 
of  delicacy  are  more  liberally  beftowed  upon  females 
than  on  males  ?  And  do  not  the  facts  which  we 
have  mentioned  prove,  that  in  the  human  genius 
thefe  feeds  require  fome  culture  to  expand,  and  ftill 
more  to  bring  them  to  perfection ;  whereas,  on  t  g 
other  hand,  too  much  culture  actually  dellroys  i!;tm 
altogether;  as  plants  may  bedeflroyed  in  a  hot  bsd 
by  too  much  heat,  which  by  a  moderate  decree:  of 
it  would  have  arrived  to  the  higheft  perfection; 

Allowing  then,  that  delicacy  is  a  virtue  planted 
by  the  hand  of  nature  in  the  female  mind,  let  us  take 
a  view  of  the  progrefs  of  this  virtue,  which  males  fo 
diftinguifhing  a  part  of  the  character  of  that  fex  whole 
Li  (lory  we  are  endeavouring  to  elucidate. 

In  the  remoteit  periods  of  which  we  have  any  Lif- 
torical  account,  we  find  that  the  women  had  a  deli- 


io  THE  HISTORY 

cacy  to  which  the  other  fex  were  ftrangers.  Re- 
becca veiled  hcrielf  when  (lie  firfl  approached  to 
Ifaac  her  future  hufband,  and  in  thofe  ages  it  would 
feem  that  even  proftitution  was  too  delicate  to  fhew 
itfelf  openly,  for  Taraar,  when  ihe  perfonated  an 
harlot,  covered  herfelf  with  a  veil,  which  appears 
from  the  (lory  to  have  been  a  part  of  the  drefs  worn 
in  thofe  days  by  women  of  that  profeffion.  Many  of 
the  fables  of  antiquity,  while  they  paint  in  the  molt 
(biking  colours  the  profligacy  of  manners,  point  out 
at  the  fame  time  that  delicacy  was  a  latent  principle 
in  the  female  mind,  which  often  mewed  itfelf  in  fpite 
of  manners,  cuftoms,  and  every  other  difadvantage 
under  which  it  laboured.  Of  this  kind  is  the  fable 
of  Actceon  and  Diana.  Aft.Ton  being  a  famous 
hunter,  was  in  the  woods  with  his  hounds  beating 
for  fome  game,  when  accidentally  fpying  Diana  and 
her  nymphs  bathing  in  ?  river,  he  Hole  fikntly  into 
a  neighbouring  thicket  that  he  might  have  a  nearer 
view  of  them;  when  the  goddefs  difcovering  him, 
was  fo  affronted  at  his  audacity, and  fo  much  afhawed 
to  have  been  fcen  naked,  that  (he  in  revenge  imme- 
diately transformed  him  into  a  Hag,  and  fet  his  own 
hounds  upon  him,  who  foon  overtook  and  devoured 
him. 

Even  among  the  Lydians,  a  people  who  were 
highly  debauched,  it  appears  that  female  delicacy 
was  far  from  being  totally  extinguished ;  Candaules, 
one  of  their  kings,  being  married  to  a  lady  of  exqui- 
fitc  beauty,  was  perpetually  boafting  of  her  charms 
to  his  courtiers,  and  at  laft,  to  fatisfy  his  favourite 
Gyges  that  he  had  not  exaggerated  the  description , 
he  took  the  dangerous  and  indelicate  refolution  of 
giving  him  an  opportunity  of  feeing  her  naked.  To 
accomplish  this,  Gyges  was  conveyed  by  the  king 
into  a  fecret  place,  where  he  might  fee  the  queen 


OF  WOMEN.  ii 

drefs  and  undrefs,  from  whence,  however,  as  he 
retired,  (lie  accidentally  fpied  him,  but  taking  no 
notice  of  him  for  the  prefent,  fhe  only  fet  herfelf  to 
confider  the  mod  proper  method  of  revenging  her 
injured  modefty,  and  puniiliing  her  indelicate  huf- 
band  ;  having  refolved  how  to  proceed,  me  fent  for 
Gyges,  and  told  him  that  as  me  could  not  tamely 
fobmit  to  the  (lain  which  had  been  offered  to  her 
honour,  me  infilled  that  he  mould  expiate  his  crime 
either  by  his  own  death  or  that  of  the  king,  that 
two  men  might  not  be  living,  at  the  fame  time  who 
had  thus  feeh  her  in  a  If  ate  of  nature.  Gyges,  after 
fome  fruitlefs  remoniirances,  performed  the  latter, 
married  the  queen,  and  mounted  the  throne  of  Ly- 
dia.  Beildes  the  fables  and  hiliorical  anecdotes  of 
antiqn^y,  their  poets  feldom  exhibited  a  female 
character  in  its  love  licit  form,  without  adorning  it 
with  the  graces  of  modefty  and  delicacy  ;  hence  we 
may  infer,  that  theie  qualities  have  not  only  been 
always  efferitfal  to  virtuous  women  in  civilized  coun- 
tries, but  have  been  alfo  conilantly  praifsd  and 
eilcemed  by  men  of  fenfibility* 

Plutarch,  in  his  treatife,  entitled,  The  virtuous 
Actions,  of  Women,  mentions  feveral  anecdotes 
which  itrongly  favour  our  idea  of  delicacy  being  an 
innate  principle  in  the  female  mind  ;  the  moil  link- 
ing is  that  of  the  young  women  of  Milefia,  many  of 
whom,  about  that  time  of  life,  when  nature  giving 
birth  to  reftlefs  and  turbulent  deiires  inflames  the 
imagination,  and  aitoniihes  the  heart  at  the  fen  fa - 
fio'n  of  wants  which  virtue  forbids  to  gratify,  to  free 
themfeivesfrom  the  conflict  between  nature,  and  vir- 
tue, laid  violent  hands  on  themfelves ;  the  conta- 
gion becoming  every  day  more  general,  to  put  a  (lop 
to  it,  a  law  was  made,  ordaining  that  every  one  who 
committed  that  c  ira(   (houid  fc*e  brought   naked  to 


12  THE  HISTORY 

the  market  place  and  publickly  expofed  to  the  peo- 
ple ;  and  fo  powerfully  did  the  idea  of  this  idelicate 
eJtpofure,  even  after  death,  operate  on  their  minds, 
that  from  thenceforth  not  one  of  them  ever  made  an 
attempt  on  her  own  life. 

There  are  fo  many  evils  attending  the  lofs  of  vir- 
tue in  women,  and  fo  greatly  are  minds  of  that  fex 
depraved  when  they  have  deviated  from  the  path  of 
rectitude,  that  their  being  generally  contaminated 
may  be  confidered  one  of  the  greater!  misfortunes 
that  can  befal  a  ftate,  as  it  in  time  deftroys  almofl 
every  public  virtue  of  the  men.  Hence  all  wife 
legiflators,  especially  of  republics,  have  ftrictly  en- 
forced upon  the  fex  a  particular  purity  of  manners  ; 
and  not  fatisfied  that  they  mould  abftain  from  vice 
only,  have  required  them  even  to  fhun  every  appear- 
ance of  it.  Such,  in  fome  periods,  were  the  effects 
of  the  laws  of  the  Romans,  and  fuch  were  the  effects 
of  thefe  laws,  that  if  ever  female  delicacy  mone  forth 
in  a  confpicuous  manner,  we  are  of  opinion  it  was 
among  thofe  people,  after  they  had  worn  off  much 
of  the  barbarity  of  their  firif  ages,  and  before  they 
become  contaminated  by  the  wealth  and  manners  of 
the  nations  which  they  plundered  and  fubjected  : 
then  it  was  that  we  find  many  of  their  women  furpaf- 
fing  in  modefty  almoft  every  thing  related  by  fable  ; 
and  then  it  was  that  their  ideas  of  delicacy  were  fo 
highly  refined,  that  they  could  not  even  bear  the 
fecrel  confeioufnefs  of  an  involuntary  crime,  and  far 
lefs  of  having  even  tacitly  confented  to  it.  Of  this 
nothing  can  be  aflronger  proof  than  the  cuflom  men- 
tioned by  Mofes,  of  expofmg  to  public  view  the 
tokens  of  a  bride's  virginity  on  the  morning  after  her 
wedding  night,  to  which  we  fhall  only  add,  that  the 
price  demanded  by  Saul  for  his  daughter,  when  he 
gave  her  to  David  in  marriage  j  a  price  the  mod 


OF  WOMEN.  13 

highly  character  iftic  of  the  indelicate  manners  of  the 
times.  The  Greeks  themfelves,  who  eonfidercd  all 
the  reft  of  the  world  as  barbarians,  were  in  delicacy 
hardly  a  few  degrees  above  the  inftancesjuft  now 
mentioned;  one  can  icarcely  determine  whether  the 
comedies  of  Anftophanes  or  of  Euripides  are  t,he 
moll  Stocking  to  a  modeft  ear.  Martial,  and  even 
Horace,  among  the  Romans  were  fcarcely  lefs  inde- 
licate, but  they  flourifhed  at  Rome  during  thefe 
periods  when  falfe  refinement  of  manners  had  ban- 
ifhed  delicacy  as  a  filly  and  unprofitable  virtue,  and 
when  even  law  was  fo  repugnant  to  decency,  that 
a  women  taken  in  adultery  was  proftituted  in  the 
public  fbeet  to  all  comers,  who  were  invited  by  the 
ringing  of  a  bell  to  the  abpnaipabie  ceremony. 

After  the  fubverfion  of  the  Roman  Empire,  there 
arofe  among  the  barbarians  an  inllitution,  which, 
as  it  was  in  a  great  meaiiire  directed  to  the  defence 
and  protection  of  women,  created  in  them  a  dignity 
and  delicacy  unknown  to  any  otlvrr  age  or  people, 
and  which  perhaps  will  ever  remain  unparalleled  in 
the  hiliory  of  mankind,  unlefs  chivalry  or  fome  fimi- 
lar  inftitution  be  again  revived ;  but  as  chivalry 
began  to  decline, .  delicacy  declined  aifc  along  with 
it,  till  at  kill  both  fexes  aiiumcd  a  rudenefs  of  man- 
ners and  of  drels,  which  for  levtral  centuries  d 
graced  Europe,  and  required  a  feries  of  ages  and  of 
efforts  to  rub  oil*  and  polilh  to  any  decent  degree  of 
refinement. 

Such  as  we  have  now  feen  was  the  (Lite  of  delicacy 
among  the  antients,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe;  when  we  leave  Europe,  and  colonies  fet- 
tled  by  Europeans,  we  find  it  a  virtue  in  moil;  o*her 
places  hardly  taken  notice  of  or  cultivated;  we  fhail 
therefore  turn  our  attention  from  delicacy,  which  we 

VOL.  II.  C 


14  THE  HISTORY 

confider  onlv  as  an  out- work  to  chnftity,  and  make 
a  few  obfervations  on  chaftity  itfelf.  But  as  we  have 
already  ihewn  the  ftate  and  fituation  of  this  virtue 
among  the  greato  part  both  of  the  ancients  and 
moderns,  we  (hall  not  again  enter  upon  that  fubjeit, 
but  confine  ourfelves  to  pointing  out  the  various 
methods  which  in  divers  places  and  periods  have 
been,  and  ftill  are  made  uie  of  to  preferve,  encou- 
rage, and  defend  that  virtue. 

Such  has  always  been  the  conflitution  of  human 
nature,  and  mode  of  governing,  that  the  legiilators  of 
every  country,  except  China,  have  conftantly  held 
oilt  terrors  to  hinder  from  the  commiHion  of  vice, 
but  feldom  or  never  offered  rewards  for  the  practice 
of  virtue;  the  reafon  maybe,  that  the  vicious  are 
few  in  number,  and  punifhments  cheap;  whereas 
the  virtuous  are  many,  and  premiums  fo  coflly,  that 
no  government  could  afford  to  bellow  a  reward  on 
each  of  them;  and,  befides  the  moral  virtues,  not 
only  reward  us  themfelves  with  peace  of  mind  in  this 
world;  but  have  annexed  to  them  the  promifes  of  a 
frill  more  ample  reward  in  that  which  is  to  come. 
When  we  confider  thefe  reafons,  it  is  not  furprifing 
to  find  that  chaftity,  upon  which  all  polifhed  ftates 
have  fet  the  higheft  value,  has  never  been  encoura- 
ged by  any  pofitive  inllitution  in  its  favour;  while 
its  oppofite  vice  has,  by  every  well  regulated  govern- 
ment, been  branded  with  a  greater  or  lefs  degree 
of  infamy,  according  to  the  ideas  which  fuch  govern- 
ment had,  of  the  duties  of  religion  and  morality, 
and  to  the  love  which  it  entertained  of  rectitude  and 
order.  Wherever  good  laws  are  ellablimed,  tend- 
ing to  enforce  a  decent  propriety  of  manners,  every 
woman,  who  deviates  from  chaltity,  forfeits  almoft 
entirely  the  fociety  of  her  own  fex,  and  of  the  moft 
worthy  and  regular  part  of  ours;   and,  what   i^   oi 


OF  WOMEN,  15 

infinitely  greater  confeqaence,  flie  forfeits  ahnoft  ail 
chance  of  entering  into  that  llate.  which  women 
have  fo  many  natural,  as  well  as  political  reafons,  to 
determine  them  to  wifh  for  more  than  the  men; 
and  if  fhe  has  any  fmall  degree  of  chance  left  of 
entering  into  it,  me  rauft  do  it  with  a  partner  be- 
low her  rank  and  itation  in  life;  and  even  thus 
matched,  flie  is  liable  to  have  the  follies  and  frailties 
of  her  former  conduct  thrown  up  to  her  on  every 
occafion,  which  gives  birth  even  to  the  flightefl 
matrimonial  difference. 

Thefe  and  others  of  the  fame  nature,  are  the 
punilhments  which  every  wife  legiflature  has  inflict- 
ed on  the  breach  of  chatlity  in  unmarried  women. 
We  ihall  fee  afterward,  that  almoic  every  people?., 
whether  civilized  or  favage,  have  treated  this  crime 
in  married  women  with  much  greater  feverny;  fub- 
jecting  them  not  only  to  feveral  kinds  of  public  (hame 
and  indignity,  but  even  to  a  variety  of  corporal,  and 
often  to  capital  punilhments.  But  as  every  feverity 
and  every  punidiment,  has  been  found  too  weak  to 
prevail  againft  the  vice  of  incontinence  ;  especially 
among  people  of  foft  and  voluptuous  manners,  un- 
der the  influence  of  a  warm  fun,  and  profeffing  a  reli- 
gion, which  lays  no  reiiraint  upon  the  pailions  ;  the 
Eallerns,  where  thefe  caufes  moft  powerfully  operate, 
have  time  immemorial  endeavoured  to  fecure  the 
chaftity  of  their  women,  by  eunuchs  and  confine- 
ment. 

At  what  period,  or  in  what  part  of  the  world, 
fome  of  the  males  of  our  fpecies  were  firft  emafcu- 
lated,  in  order  to  qualify  them  for  guarding  the 
objects  of  pleafures  of  the  reft,  is  not  perfectly 
known.  The  inftitution  cf  a  cuilom  fo  barbaroufly 
unnatural,  has,  by  fome,  been  attributed  to  the  hi- 


1 6  THE  HISTORY 

famous  Scmiramis  ;  but  we  are  of  opinion,  that  it 
was  more  likely  to  originate  from  the  men  than  the 
women  ;  and,  befides,  we  have  reaibn  to  believe, 
that  it  was  invented  long  before  the  time  of  Semi- 
ramis ;  for  Mofes,  in  his  code  of  legiilation,  ex- 
prefsly  prohibits  eunuchs  from  entering  into  the  con- 
gregation j  and  Manetho  fays,  that  the  father  of 
Seioilris,  who  lived  near  two  hundred  years  before 
Mofes,  was  afTaflinated  by  his  eunuchs.  In  the  days 
of  Samuel,  it  feems  to  have  been  a  general  cuirom 
for  the  kings  of  the  nations,  who  lived  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Ifraelites,  to  have  eunuchs  ;  for  we 
find  this  prophet,  among  the  other  reafons  that  he 
made  ufe  oi  to  difluade  "his  people  from  chuling  a 
king,  telling  them,  '  that  he  would  take  their 
ennuchs  to  guard  his  women.'  The  nature  of  our 
undertaking  does  not  permit  us  to  enquire,  how  it 
was  firfl  difcovered  that  emafculation  would  fit  men 
for  the  defpicable  employments  to  which  fuch  muti- 
lated beings  have  generally  been  deflined  :  it  is  fuf. 
ficient  for  us  to  obferve,  that  all  the  voluptuous  na- 
tions of  the  Eafl  have  conftantly  confidercd  fuch 
beings,  as  fo  envious  of  the  joys,  which  themfelves 
Were  incapable  of  tailing,  that  they  would  exert 
every  power  to  hinder  ethers  from  tailing  them  alio; 
and  hence  have  fixed  upon  them  as  the  moil  proper 
guardians  of  female  chaility  :  nor  has  their  choice 
been  improperly  made ;  for  thefe  wretches,  lofmg 
every  tender  feeling  for  the  other  fex,  along  with 
the  power  of  enjoying  them,  to  ingratiate  themfelves 
with  their  jealous  mailers,  not  only  debar  them  from 
every  fpecies  of  pleafure, under  pretence  of  hindering 
them  from  that  which  is  unlawful ;  but  treat  them 
too  often  with  the  utmofl  feverity. 

While  the  empires  and  kingdoms  of  ihc  Eaft  have 
been  the  mod  unfettled,  and  fubjett  to  the  mod  lie- 


OF  WOMEN.  17 

quent  and  fudden  revolutions,  the  manners  and  cuf- 
toms,  like  the  mountains  and  rocks  of  the  country, 
have  been,  time  immemorial,  permanent  and  un- 
changeable ;  and,  at  this  day,  exhibit  nearly  the 
fame  appearance  that  they  did  in  the  patriarchal 
ages  ;  nor  have  thefe  cufloms  in  any  thing  remained 
more  fixed  and  unalterable,  than  in  the  ufe  of 
eunuchs  :  every  Eaftern  potentate,  and  every  other 
perfon  who  can  defray  the  expence,  employs  a  num- 
ber of  thofe  wretches  to  fuperinrend  his  feraglio,  and 
guard  the  chaflity  of  his  women  ;  not  only  from 
everv  rude  invader-  but  alfo  from  the  effects  of  female 
affociation  and  intrigue  :  nor  need  we  wonder  at 
this,  when  we  confider  that  into  the  women  of  this 
country  are  inililled  no  virtuous  principles  to  enable 
them  to  defend  themfelves ;  that  the  men  are  taught 
by  fafhion  and  prompted  by  reftraint  to  attack  them 
as  often  as  they  have  opportunity  ;  that  the  women 
may  therefore  be  considered  in  the  fame  fituation 
with  regard  to  the  men,  as  the  defencelefs  animals  of 
the  field  are  to  the  bead's  of  prey  which  prowl  around 
them  ;  and  that  on  thefe  accounts,  while  the  prefent 
conflitution  of  the  country  remains  unaltered,  to  guard 
the  fex  by  this  fpecies  of  neutral  beings,  may  not  be 
fo  unnecefTary  as  we  in  this  country  are  apt  to  confi- 
der it. 

There  is  in  the  human  mind,  a  reluctance  at  lhaiv 
ing  with  another  what  we  think  necefTary  for  our- 
felves,  or  what  we  greatly  love  and  admire  ;  hence, 
perhaps,  arofe  the  cuftom  of  fencing  a  field  round 
with  a  ditch  or  a  wall ;  and  hence  alfo,  that  of  iecu- 
ring  women  by  confinement,  and  guarding  them  by 
eunnchs.  At  what  period  of  the  world,  or  in  what 
part  of  it,  women  were  firfl  put  under  confinement, 
is  uncertain  ;  we  have,  however,  forne  reafons  to 
believe,  they  were  fo  ufed  among  the  Philiftmes  as 


18  THE  HISTORY 

early  as  the  patriarchal  ages ;  and  even  among  the 
patriarchs  themfelves,  we  are  told  that  the  women 
had  apartments  in  the  back  parts  of  the  tents,  into 
which  it  would  feem  that  the  men,  or  at  lead:  Gran- 
gers, were  never  allowed  to  enter,  and  to  which  the 
women  retired  when  any  flranger  approached.  But 
though  there  might  be  fome  reftraint  upon  the  Tex  in 
thefe  ages,  it  did  certainly  not  amount  to  abfolute 
confinement ;  for  we  are  informed,  that  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  them  were  employed  in  the  fields, 
and  went  out  of  the  cities  in  the  evenings  to  draw 
water ;  and  though  feparate  apartments  were  con- 
trived in  the  back  parts  of  the  tents  for  the  women, 
as  we  have  no  accounts  of  their  being  confined  to 
them,  it  is  probable,  that  they  ferved  rather  as  re- 
treats for  decency,  than  as  places  of  imprisonment. 

Such  was  the  ftate  of  women  among  the  Ifracl- 
ites  ;  nor  do  they  feem  to  have  wanted  their  liberty 
at  this  time  among  the  Egyptians,  as  appears  from 
the  (lory  of  the  wife  of  Potiphar  ;  and  in  a  fubfe- 
quent  period  from  that  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  who 
was  going  with  her  train  of  attending  nymphs  to 
bathe  in  the  Nile,  when  {lie  found  Mofe's  among  the 
reeds. 

Were  we  to  reafon  from  principles  only,  on  the 
origin  of  female  confinement,  we  w  ould  mod  natu- 
rally derive  it  from  jealoufy  ;  if  we  reafon  from 
facts,  it  may  have  arifen  from  experience  of  the  lit- 
tle fecurity  there  was  for  the  chaftity  of  a  weak  and 
helplefs  woman,  in  the  ages  of  rudenefs  and  lawlefs 
barbarity  ;  thus  many  are  of  opinion,  that  the  rape 
of  Jacob's  daughter  by  the  Sechemites  induced  that 
patriarch  to  caufe  all  his  own  women  and  thefe  of  his 
dependents  to  be  mut  up,  left  another  accident  of 
the  fame  nature  mould  befal  any  of  them.      The 


OF  WOMEN.  ^19 

rapes  of  Io,  and  of  Proferpine,  gave  birth  perhaps 
to  the  confinement  of  women  among  the  Greeks,  and 
fimilar  misfortunes  might  be  followed  by  fimilar  con- 
fequences  among  other  nations.  But  whether  the 
confinement  of  women  originated  from  the  rape  of 
Dinah,  we  pretend  not  to  determine  ;  of  this,  how- 
ever, we  are  certain,  that  in  length  of  time  it  be- 
came a  cuftom  among  the  Jews  as  well  as  their  neigh- 
bours. King  David  had  his  wives  confined  ;  for 
we  are  told  that  they  went  up  to  the  houfe-top  to  fee 
him  march  out  againfl  his  fon  Abfalom,  which  at 
this  day  is  all  the  liberty  allowed  the-  women  of  the 
Eaff,  when  they  with  to  be  indulged  with  the  fight 
of  any  public  proceffion  or  fhow. 

But  though  the  women  of  Kings  were  at  this 
period  generally  (hut  up,  it  would  feem  thatthofeof 
private  perfons  enjoyed  more  liberty  ;  for  the  fame 
David  fent  and  brought  the  wife  of  Uriah  to  his 
houfe,  which  all  the  authority  with  which  he  was 
inverted  could  not  have  done  without  a  tumult,  had 
fne  been  as  ftrictly  guarded,  and  the  perfons  of  women 
as  facred  and  inviolable  as  they  are  now  in  the  Eaft. 
When  we  come  to  the  hiflory  of  Solomon,  we  have 
plain  accounts  of  a  feraglio  for  the  confinement  of  his 
women  ;  and  in  that  of  Ahafuerus,  king  of  Perfia, 
we  learn  that  his  feraglio  was  conftituted  not  only 
on  a  plan  of  the  fevered:  confinement,  but  alio  of  the 
moil  voluptuous  fenfuaiity.  It  would  be  needlefs  to 
trace  this  cultom  downward  to  later  periods,  as  it  is 
well  known  that  it  became  the  common  practice  of 
almoft  ail  nations  to  the  time  of  the  Romans,  who 
perhaps,  were  the  firft  people  who  totally  difcard- 
ed  it. 


20  THE  HISTORY 

CHAPTER     XVII. 

The  fame  Subject  continued. 


T 


HE  fame  caufes  which  at  flrft  introduced 
particular  manners  and  cuftoms,  are  not  always  the 
only  ones  which  continue  or  augment  them ;  thus 
though  feraglios  and  harams  for  the  confinement  of 
women  probably  originated  from  jealoufy,  or  from 
the  danger  of  expofing  weak  and  defencelefs  beauty 
to  men  heated  with  luft  and  unreftrained  by  law, 
yet  they  foon  after  became  an  article  of  luxury  and 
oftentation.  rIhe  Afiatic  monarchs  and  grandees 
vied  with  each  other  in  having  the  moft  numerous 
and  beautiful  fet  of  women,  which  conferred  upon 
their  mailer  a  luftre  and  dignity  of  the  fame  nature 
as  in  modern  times  we  fuppofe  we  obtain  by  a  fplen- 
did  equipage  and  a  numerous  retinue;  but  the 
Afiatics  carried  this  matter  (till  farther,  and  not 
content  with  having  luch  a  number  of  women  in 
their  poffeftion,  they  made  ufe  of  them  to  add  to  the 
long  lift  of  high-founding  titles,  of  which  the  Eaft- 
erns  are  fo  exceedingly  fond.  The  king  of  Biihagar 
among  the  reft  of  his  pompous  titles,  is  ftiled  the 
hufband  of  a  thouiand  wives.  In  this  country  where 
we  are  accuftomed  to  make  a  Ihow  and  parade  of 
every  thing  which  we  imagine  gives  a  luftre  to  our 
rank,  or  an  addition  to  our  fame,  we  cannot  con- 
ceive what  dignity  an  Eaftern  can  derive  from  a 
number  of  beauties,  while  they  are  fecluded  from 
every  mortal  eye  but  his  own;  it  is  not,  however, 
the  difplaying  of  thefe  in  all  their  charms  that  gives 
him  this  dignity;  it  is  only  neceflary  to  have  it  known 
that  they  are   in  his  feraglio,  as  it  is  in  this  country 


OF   WOMEN.  21 

not  requillte  that  a  mifer  ftiould.  mew  his  {lore  to 
acquire  the  reputation  of  being  rich,  but  only  that 
it  be  known  that  he  has  it  in  his  poiTeiTion, 

In  j unification  of  feraglios  andharams  it  has  been 
by  fome  alleged,  that  they  are  not  lo  much  places  of 
confinement  as  of  voluntary  retreat  from  the  rude- 
nefs  and  indecorum  of  the  men;  but  thoie  who 
argue  in  this  manner  mufl  be  but  ill  acquainted  with 
the  hiflory  of  the  Ea(t,  and  iefs  with  human  nature  ; 
for  we  cannot  fuppofe  it  confident  with  thofe  ideas 
and  feelings  with  which  we  are  endowed,  that  wo- 
men mould  voluntarily  {hut  up  and  feciude  them- 
felves  from  all  the  pleasures  of  liberty,  and  of  fecial 
life,  from  the  hope  and  joy  of  public  admiration, 
without  any  other  recompence  than  a  fmall  {hare  of 
the  favours  of  one  man.  Every  human  being  has 
by  nature  an  equal  right  to  perfonal  liberty,  and 
none  feem  more  tenacious  of  this  ri^ht  than  the  rude 
and  uncultivated;  it  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the 
frrfr.  efforts  to  confine  women  were  refilled  with  all 
their  drength  and  cunning;  but  the  druggie  proving 
ineffe&nal,  cuftom  at  lad  damped  the  fan£tion  of 
judice  upon  what  was  at  firft  only  an  illegal  exertion 
of  power;  and  now  the  fex,  almolt  over  half  the 
world,  tamely  fubmit  to  be  imprifoned  like  criminals, 
only  becaufe  force  and  cudom  have  barbaroufly  com- 
bined againd  their  liberty. 

If  jealoufy  was  the  original  fource  of  female  con- 
finement, when  a  wife  really  gave  her  hufband  caufe 
to  be  jealous,  he  had  at  lead  a  tolerable  pretence  for 
{hutting  her  up;  but  to  impriion  wives  in  general, 
becaufe  fome  of  them  were  found  unfaithful,  or 
young  women  in  general,  becaufe  upon  fome  few 
individuals  a  rape  had  been  committed,  was  a  drange 
and  unlawful  exertion  of  power.     The  learned  Mon- 

D 


22  THE  HISTORY 

tefquieu,  in  endeavouring  to  juftify  this  exertion, 
fays,  '  That  fuch  is  the  force  of  climate  in  fubliming 
'  the  paffions  to  an  ungovernable  height  in  countries 
i  where  women  are  confined,  that  were  they  allow- 
'  ed  their  liberty,  the  attack  upon  them  would  always 
i  be  certain,  and  the  refinance  nothing.'  Allowing 
to  this  reafoning  all  its  force,  does  not  juftice  demand 
that  the  attacker  rather  than  the  attacked  fhould  be 
confined  ?  But  we  venture  to  affirm,  though  in  con- 
tradition  to  fo  celebrated  a  genius,  that  fuch  reafon- 
ing is  not  founded  on  nature;  for  this  fo  much  dreaded 
attack,  and  this  feeble  refinance,  are  neither  of  them 
the  effect,  of  climate  only,  but  of  reflraint  alfo,  and 
would  take  place  nearly  in  the  fame  manner  in  Lap- 
land as  in  Alia,  were  the  fexes  there  as  carefully 
kept  afunder,  and  were  there  no  other  fecurity  for 
virtue  but  want  of  opportunity  to  be  vicious;  for 
fuch  plainly  is  the  difpolition  of  human  nature,  that 
the  greater  obftacles  thrown  in  the  way  of  gratifica- 
tion, the  greater  are  the  efforts  to  overcome  them; 
hence  a  woman  who  is  malked  or  veiled  more  ftrongly 
attracts  our  attention,  than  one  who  is  clothed  in  the 
ordinary  manner,  becaufe,  in  the  former  cafe,  we 
only  fee  a  fmall  part  of  her  charms,  and  creative 
fancy  forms  the  molt  extravagant  idea  of  all  that  is 
hid:  hence,  alfo  men  and  women  perpetually  kept 
afunder,  are  for  ever  brooding  over  the  joys  which 
they  would  have  tailed  in  the  company  of  each 
other,  and  on  this  account,  a  man  who  perhaps  in 
his  whole  life  never  has  an  opportunity  of  being- 
alone  with  one  of  the  other  lex,  if  fuch  an  opportu- 
nity fhould  perchance  happen,  never  fails  to  make 
life  of  it  by  attacking  her  virtue;  whereas  were  he 
to  have  frequent  opportunities  of  this  nature,  his 
fancy  would  be  lei's  heated,  he  would  let  lei's  value 
on  them,  and  ufe  them  with  more  moderation. 
Thcfe  inferences  are  much  ii  lengthened  by  the  fob 


OF  WOMEN.  23 

lowing  fa&s:  a  native  of  China,  who  lately  refided 
fome  years  in  England,  acknowledged,  that,  for 
fome  time  after  he  arrived  here,  he  had  much  diffi- 
culty in  retraining  liimfelf  from  attacking  every  wo- 
man with  whom  he  was  left  alone;  and  a  Nun,  who 
had  efaped  from  a  convent,  imagined  that  every  man 
who  had  an  opportunity  would  aflault  her  virtue, 
and  though  me  had  no  inclination  to  have  yielded, 
even  fometimes  felt  a  fecret  chagrin  that  Hie  was  dif- 
appointed. 

In  civilized  nations,  where  the  principles  of  mora- 
lity are  cultivated,  when  a  mutual  com pact  has  been 
entered  into  between  a  man  and  a  woman  to  abide  by 
each  other,  the  faith  of  this  woman,  and  the  fenfe 
of  the  obligation  (lie  has  laid  herfelf  under,  are  con- 
iidered  as  the  fecurities  of  her  virtue,  without  the 
ufe  of  any  reftrictive  methods.  This  compact,  how- 
ever, is  commonly  a  mutual  one;  whereas  in  coun- 
tries where  women  are  coniined,  the  compact  entered 
into  between  hufband  and  wife,  if  it  can  be  1 
a  compact,  is  only  an  act  of  power  on  the  part  of  the 
hufband  and  parents  of  the  bride,  and  of  paffive 
obedience  on  her  part.  The  hufband,  therefore, 
has  no  great  reafon  to  expect  that  ihe  will  pay  the 
fame  regard  to  this  compact,  as  if  it  had  hjeen  made 
by  the  voluntary  agreement  of  all  parties ;  fenfible  on 
this  account,  that  her  mind  may  be  differently  dii- 
pofed  of  from  her  body,  he  fecures  the  latter  by  per- 
petual confinement;  which  is  all  he  can  do.  But 
this  mode  of  treating  women  is  the  vileft  indignity 
that  can  be  offered  to  human  beings,  as  it  prefup- 
pofes  them  neither  endowed  with  virtue  nor  free 
agency,  and  places  them  in  the  fame  point  of  view 
with  an  unoccupied  field,  which  yields  itfelf  indiffer- 
ently to  the  pofleflion  of  any  one,  who  will  be  at  the 
pains  to  fee  tire  and  fence  it.     It  likewife  pfefuppofes 


24  THE  HISTORY 

the  men  to  be  with  regard  to  the  women,  what  they 
are  to  the  wild  beads  of  the  field,  absolutely  mailers 
of  every  one  whom  they  can  lay  hold  of  and  detain 
in  their  cuftody.  Ideas  which  we  reprobate  as 
inconfident  with  human  nature,  when  not  warped 
by  cuftom,  or  led  affray  by  art. 

It  is  natural  to  imagine,  that  we  love  and  admire, 
and  what,  on  thefe  accounts,  we  cannot  fuller  to  fee 
in  the  company  of  others,  we  fliould  be  as  much  as 
poffible  in  company  with  ourfelves  ;  but  the  reverfe 
is  the  cafe  with  the  Afiatics  ;  though  they  will  not 
allow  their  women  the  company  of  other  men,  they 
are  feldcm  with  them  themfelves :  fuch  conduct  is, 
doubtlefs,  one  of  thofe  inconfiftencies  which  too  fre- 
quently mark  the  character  of  man  ;  nor  is  it  lefs 
inconfident,  that  one  of  the  principal  enjoyments  of 
the  paradife  promifed  by  Mahomet,  fliould  confift 
in  the  company  of  beautiful  women  ;  while,  in  this 
world,  the  mulfulmen  fcarcely  ever  keep  any  com- 
pany with  the  fex.  But  we  are  to  confider,  that 
where  women  are,  from  their  infancy,  confined  as 
prifoners,  they  muft  be  ignorant  almoft  of  every- 
thing ;  and,  confequently,  but  illy  qualified  for  the 
pleafures  of  converfation  and  of  company  ;  and  hence 
they  are  never  treated  as  rational  companions,  nor 
as  equals  ;  but  as  inferiors  and  children.  The  Per- 
fian  women,  according  to  Sir  John  Chardin,  arc 
not  even  confulted  in  the  choice  of  their  own  clothes, 
nor  in  the  propriety  of  their  having  new  ones  ;  but 
arc  furnifhed  with  fuch  as  are  thought  ncceffary  for 
them,  in  the  fame  manner  as  we  treat  children. 

In  Turkey,  Perfia,  and  feveral  other  parts  of 
Alia  and  Africa,  the  monarchs,  having  an  abfoiute 
power,  generally  take  from  their  iuhjects  by  force, 
fuch  women  as  they   find  handfome,    without  any 


OF  WOMEN.  zs 

regard  to  their  rank,  or  their  being  married  or  fin- 
gle.  The  Grand  Signior  has  a  tribute  of  young 
girls  annually  paid  to  him  by  the  Greeks,  and  fome 
other  of  his  tributary  provinces  ;  thefe  are  placed  in 
apartments  of  the  palace,  which  are  feparated  from 
all  intercourfe  with  the  reft,  and  are  called  the  Se- 
raglio ;  where  they  are  guarded  in  the  itric~teft  man- 
ner by  eunuchs.  The  gardens  of  this  feraglio,  which 
are  fenced  with  high  walls,  and  planted  with  rows 
of  trees,  to  obftrucl  the  fight,  are  the  utmoft  limits 
to  which  they  are  allowed  to  go ;  except  when  fome 
of  them  are  carried  along  with  their  mailer,  if  he 
makes  any  excurfion,  or  goes  to  war  againfl  an  ene- 
my ;  in  which  cafe,  they  are  placed  in  clofe  ma- 
chines, on  the  backs  of  camels,  and  as  much  hid  as 
if  in  the  inmoft  receffes  of  the  feraglio. 

Befides  the  feraglio  of  the  fultan,  private  perfons 
have  apartments  in  their  houfes,  where  they  confine 
their  women,  called  Harams.  The  Haram  is  in 
Turkey,  as  it^was  in  ancient  Greece  ;  always  in  the 
back  part  of  the  houle,  and  all  the  windows  of  it 
look  into  the  garden.  The  apartments  of  the  ladies, 
when  the  hufband  can  afford  it,  are  always  elegantly 
furnifhed  after  their  manner  ;  and  they  want  nothing 
to  make  life  comfortable  but  fociety :  they  have 
numbers  of  beautiful  female  (laves  to  attend  them, 
who  divert  them  with  vocal  and  inftrumental  mufic, 
dancing,  and  other  amufements.  In  thefe  Harams, 
women  are  not  fo  clcfely  confined  as  in  the  feraglio  y 
they  are  fometimes  iufFered  to  go  out ;  but  then  they 
muff,  always  be  veiled  and  covered  from  head  to  foot 
with  a  long  robe,  called  a  fori  gee ;  which  no  wo- 
man of  any  rank  is  allowed  to  appear  in  the  ilreet 
without ;  and  which  is  fo  exactly  alike  in  all,  that 
it  is  abfolutcly  impoflible  to  diftinguifli  the  features, 
or  perfon  of  one  woman  from  another.     The  mod 


26  THE  HISTORY 

jealous  hufband  cannot  know  even  his  own  wife  ; 
and  no  man  dure  touch,  or  follow  a  woman  in  the 
ftreet  ;  fo  that  the  confinement  of  the  women  at 
Conftantinople  is  not  fo  rigid  as  fome  of  our  travel- 
lers would  make  us  believe. 

In  a  variety  of  parts  of  the  Mogul  empire,  when 
the  women  are  carried  abroad,  they  are  put  into  a 
kind  of  machine,  like  a  chariot,  and  placed  on  the 
backs  of  camels,  or  in  covered  fedan  chairs,  and  fur- 
rounded  by  a  guard  of  eunuchs,  and  armed  men,  in 
fuch  a  manner,  that  a  ftranger  would  rather  fuppofe 
the  cavalcade  to  be  carrying  fome  defperafe  villain 
to  execution,  than  employed  to  prevent  the  intrigues 
or  efcape  of  a  defencelefs  woman.  At  home,  the 
fex  are  covered  with  gauze  veils,  which  they  dare 
not  take  off  in  the  prefence  of  any  man,  except 
their  hulband,  or  fome  near  relation.  Over  the 
greateft  part  of  Afia,  and  in  fome  places  of  Africa, 
women  are  guarded  by  eunuchs,  made  incapable  of 
violating  their  chaftity.  In  Spain,  where  the  na- 
tives are  the  defendants  of  the  Africans,  and  whole 
jealoufy  is  not  lefs  itrong  than  that  of  their  ancellors, 
they,  for  many  centuries,  made  life  of  padlocks  to 
fecure  the  chaftity  of  their  women  ;  but  finding  thefe 
ineffectual,  they  frequently  had  recourfe  to  old 
women,  called  Gouvernantes.  It  had  been  disco- 
vered, that  men  deprived  of  their  virility,  did  not 
fometimes  guard  female  virtue  fo  hYnftly,  as  to  be 
incapable  of  bring  bribed  to  allow  another  a  taite  of 
thole  pleafures  they  themfelves  were  incapable  of  en- 
joying. The  Spaniards,  fenfible  of  this,  imagined, 
that  vindictive  old  women  were  more  likely  to  be  in- 
corruptible; as  envy  would  ftimulate  them  to  prevent 
the  young  from  enjoying  thofe  pleafures,  which 
they  themfelves  had  no  longer  any  chance  for  ;  but 


OF  WOMEN.  27 

all  powerful  gold  fooii  overcame  even  tiiis  obftacle  ; 
and  the  Spaniards,  at  prefent,  icem  to  give  up  all 
restrictive  methods,  and  to  truft  the  virtue  of  then- 
women  to  good  principles,  inftead  of  rigour  and 
hard  ulage. 

Where  there  is  no  public  virtue  to  confide  in,  be- 
fides  the  methods  of  Duennas,  locks,  eunuchs,  and 
confinement,  feveral  others  have  been,  and  ftill  are, 
pradlifed  in  different  countries,  to  preferve  female 
chafiity.  Mr.  More  relates  a  Angular  method  ufed 
for  this  purpofe  in  the  interior  parts  of  Africa  ;  it  is 
a  figure  to  which '  they  give  the  name  of  Mumbo 
Jumbo,  in  the  fhape  of  a  man,  and  dreffed  in  a  long 
coat,  made  of  the  bark  of  a  tree,  and  on  its  head  a 
large  tuft  of  flraw  :  into  this  figure,  which  is  ufu- 
ally  about  nine  feet  high,  a  man  is  introduced,  who 
makes  it  walk  along,  fpeak  what  he  pleafes,  or  make 
fuch  a  horrid  and  frightful  noife,  as  he  thinks  will 
bed  anfwer  his  purpofe.  This  figure  is  kept  care- 
fully concealed  by  the  men,  and  never  comes  abroad 
but  in  the  night,  when  they  want  to  fettle  fome  dif- 
pute  with,  or  frighten  the  women  into  chafiity  and 
obedience.  They  periuade  the  women  that  it  knows 
every  thing  ;  they  refer  every  thing  to  its  decifion, 
and  it  always  decides  in  favour  of  the  men  ;  but  this 
is  not  all,  it  has  a  power  of  inflicting  punimments  on 
female  delinquents,  which  it  frequently  does,  by  or- 
e  ring  them  to  be  whipped.  They  are  taught  to 
believe,  that  it  is  particularly  offended  with  them 
when  they  violate  their  chafiity ;  a  crime  which  it 
will  certainly  difcover,  and  as  certainly  punifh.  As 
foon  as  they  hear  it  coming,  they  generally  run 
away  and  hide  theinfclves  ;  but  are  obliged  by  their 
huftnmds  to  return,  though  in  fear  and  trembling, 
to  its  prefence,  and  to  do  or  fuller  whatever  it  pleafes 
to  order  them.      How  despicable  mult  the  under- 


28  THE  HISTORY 

finding  of  thefe  women  be,  if  they  are  really  thus 
deceived  by  fo  bungling  a  trick. 

In  almoft  all  countries,  where  female  chaftity  has 
been  an  object  much  regarded,  fome  methods  have 
been  contrived  to  awaken  the  fears  of  the  inconti- 
nent, as  well  as  to  flatter  and  reward  the  hopes  of 
thofe  who  per  fevered  in  virtue ;  even  the  Jewifh 
legiflator,  not  thinking  that  the  pofitive  laws  he  had 
enacted  againft  unchaftity,  and  the  puniihments  he 
had  annexed  to  them,  were  fully  ftrong  to  overcome 
everv  vicious  inclination,  inftituted  a  mode  of  alarm- 
ing their  fears  of  a  difcovery,  even  when  fuch  dif- 
covery  was  above  the  power  of  mortal  agency  :  this 
was  the  waters  of  jealoufy,  which  a  huiband,  who 
fufpected  the  fidelity  of  his  wife,  obliged  her,  with 
fome  folemn  ceremonies,  to  drink  ;  and  which  fhe 
firmly  believed  would  make  her  belly  to  fwell  and 
her  thigh  to  rot,  if  fhe  was  guilty.  When  fuch 
was  her  belief,  and  when  the  hufband  had  it  con- 
ftantly  in  his  power  to  put  her  to  the  dreadful  trial, 
a  barrier  was  thereby  formed  againlt  unchaftity, 
ftronger  than  all  the  other  laws  human  and  divine ; 
and  yet  not  fo  ftrong,  but  it  was  frequently  by  thefe 
daring  women  overleaped  and  difregarded. 

Where  jealoufy  is  the  ruling  paiiion,  and  the  men 
have  no  ideas  that  the  incontinence  of  their  women 
can  be  reftrained  by  principle,  by  the  hope  of  reward 
or  the  fear  of  punifhment;  and  where  the  unfettled 
manner  in  which  they  live,  does  not  allow  them  an 
opportunity  of  putting  the  fex  under  confinement ; 
they  pracYife  other  methods  of  a  mod  defpicable  and 
odious  nature,  to  fecure  the  body,  regardleis  per- 
haps how  much  the  mind  be  contaminated.  As  foon 
as  a  female  child  is  born,  they  unite  by  a  kind  or 
future  thofe  parts  which  nature  has  feparated,  leav- 


OF  WOMEN.  29 

ing  juft  fpace  enough  for  the  natural  difcharges  ;  as 
the  child  grows,  the  parts  adhere  fo  clofely,  that  at 
marriage  they  are  obliged  to  be  feparated  by  an  inci- 
lion.  Sometimes  they  only  make  ufe  of  a  ring, 
and  the  married  women  as  well  as  the  virgins  are 
fubjecl:  to  this  outrage ;  with  this  diiference  only, 
that  the  ring  worn  by  the  young  women  cannot  be 
taken  off,  whereas  that  of  the  married  women  has  a 
kind  of  padlock,  of  which  the  hufband  keeps  the 
key.  This  cuftom  obtains  almoft  in  every  part  of 
Arabia,  but  is  moil  generally  practiied  in  that  part 
of  it  known  by  the  name  of  Petraea.  The  ancient 
Germans,  and  feveral  other  northern  nations,  fen- 
fible  that  chaftity  was  mod  likely  to  be  preferved 
inviolate  by  a  decency  of  behaviour  between  the  two 
fexes  ;  and  fuppofmg  that  this  decency  could  not  be 
properly  maintained  where  familiarity  was  allowed, 
prohibited  the  men  even  from  touching  the  women, 
and  laid  a  fine  upon  them  according  to  the  part 
touched;  and  in  Great  Britain,  we  find  that  there 
were  laws  of  this  nature  even  fo  late  as  the  ninth 
century. 

It  is  not  a  little  curious  to  furvey  the  various  me- 
thods made  ufe  of  in  different  parts  of  the  world  to 
accomplilh  the  lame  end.  In  Poland,  the  charity 
of  young  girls  is  endeavoured  to  be .  fecured  by  a 
contrivance  hardly  lei's  lingular,  though  not  fo  hu- 
miliating as  fome  of  thofe  we  have  now  mentioned : 
moil  of  the  young  women  belonging  to  the  peafants 
have  little  bells  fattened  to  various  parts  of  their 
cloaths,  to  give  notice  to  their  mothers  and  other 
female  gurdians  where  they  go,  that  thofe  may 
always  have  it  in  their  power  to  detect  them  fhoula 
they  attempt  to  intrigue  or  fecfete  themfelves  from 
their  view.  Where  women  are  no  farther  regarded 
than  as  the  means  of  gratifying  aniinal  love,  methods 

VOL.  II.  E 


■:z  THE  HISTORY 

like  the  forgoing  maybe  rxceffary,  or  at  lead  attend- 
ed v.  ith  little  mifchief  to  fociety  or  the  peace  of  indi- 
viduals; but  where  they  are  intended  for  the  more 
teed  purpofes  of  being  friends  and  companions, 
they  mould  be  managed  in  a  very  different  manner. 
Locks,  fpies,  and  bodily  reftri&ions  then  become 
high!}-  improper,  as  they  tend  only  to  debale  their 
minds,  corrupt  their  morals,  and  render  them  del- 
picable  ;  circuraftances  which  ought  to  be  guarded 
againfl  with  the  Utmoft  attention,  as,  where  the 
mind  is  debafed  and  contaminated,  the  body  is  not 
worth  the  trouble  of  preferring. 

In  all  countries  where  the  religion  of  Rome  is 
eftablimed,  chaftity,  and  every  female  virtue  which 
has  any  relation  to  it,  are  endeavoured  to  be  prefer- 
ved  by  the  artifice  of  auricular  confefiion  ;  the  in- 
Iiitutors  of  which  probably  imagined,  that  unchaf- 
tity  was  a  crime  which  female  delicacy  would  never 
allow  any  woman  to  divulge  ;  and  as  damnation  was 
infallibly  annexed  to  the  concealing  any  crime  from 
the  father  confeffor,  it  was  confequently  a  crime 
which  no  woman  would  ever  commit.  Rut  how- 
ever well  contrived  this  plan  may  appear,  experi- 
ence has  fully  demonftrated  its  futility,  and  that  the 
profeflbrs  of  the  catholic  religion,  notwithstanding 
this  additional  impediment  in  the  way  of  incontinence, 
are  in  that  refpect  nearly  on  a  footing  with  the  reft 
of  their  nei  jhbours,  who  have  no  fuch  (tumbling 
block  in  their  way. 

This  inftitution  of  auricular  confefiion,  in  the 
light  which  we  have  jiiit  now  confulered  it,  lays  an 
obftacle  in  the  way  of  unchaftity,  by  expofing  it  to 
public  fhame,  which  In  all  civilized  countries  is  one 
of  the  ftrongeft  pafiions  which  mark  the  female  cha- 
racter.    But  women  are  now  become  too  cunning 


OF  WOMEN.  3? 

to  fall  into  the  fnare  ;  and  while  their  anions  of  thi  > 
kind  remain  private,  it  is  preusmaMe  they  feldpm 
confefs  them.  But  as  the  expofure  to  public  fliauje 
is  one  of  the  mott  powerful  methods  of  layijig  hold 
of  the  minds  of  the  fcx,  the  laws  of  fociety,  as  well 
as  thofe  of  religious  initiiutions,  have  availed  tfaem- 
felves  of  it,  and  made  it,  among  every  polifned 
people,  one  of  the  fevere it  parts  of  the  punifhmeut 
to  which  the  female  delinquent,  who  has  departed 
from  the  path  of  rectitude,  is  expofed  ;  and  confe- 
quently  one  of  the  greatcit  ob'tacles  which  can  be 
thrown  in  the  road  to  unchaitity.  This  appears  from 
the  conduct  of  the  women  of  Iceland,  when  the 
public  fhame  attending  incontinency  was  lufpended 
on  the  following  occafion.  In  the  year  one  thpi|- 
fand  feven  hundred  and  feven,  a  great  part  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Iceland  having  died  or  a  conta 
diftemner,  the  king  of  Denmark*  in  order  to  re- 
people  the  country  in  a  more  expeditious  manner 
than  the  common  rules  of  procreation  adoi 
made  a  law,  authorifmg  all  young  women  to  have 
each  fix  baftards,  without  being  expofed  to  :  . 
fhame,  or  fuiftring  the  lofs  of  reputation.  This 
fucceeded  beyond  the  expectation  of  the  monarch  ; 
and  the  young  women  employed  themfelves  fo  fedu- 
louily  in  the  afrair  of  population,  that,  in  a  few 
years,  it  was  thought  necelfary  to  abrogate  the  law, 
left  the  country  fhould  be  overflocked  with  inhabi- 
tants, and  that  lenfe  of  Ihame  annexed  to  unchaftity, 
fo  much  obliterated  from  the  female  breaft,  that 
neither  law  nor  cuitom  would  be  aide  afterwards  to 
revive  it.  Were  it  not  almoft  ieif-evident  to  every 
one,  that  this  public  ihame  attending  female  indii- 
cretion,  is  one  of  the   ftrongefi  as   to   fecure 

their  chaftity,  we  might  prove  it  more  fully  from 
other  circumftances.  Nothing  can  be  mare  certain, 
than  that  in  thoie  countries  where  ao  thame  is  fixed 


32  THE  HISTORY 

to  any  a&ion,  there  is  no  public  chaftity  ;  and  that 
this  virtue  flourishes  the  mod,  where  its  contrary 
vices  are  branded  with  the  very  greateft  degree  of 

infamy. 

But  this  public  fhame  is  only  one  of  the  many  me-r 
fhcds  which  we  in  this  country  make  ufe  of  to  fecure 
the  chaOity  of  the  fex.  We  call  religion  and  mora- 
jii  f  to  our  aid  ;  religion  holds  out  in  the  one  hand 
rewards  of  the  moil  glorious  nature,  and  punifh- 
meots  not  lefs  dreadful  in  the  other.  Morality 
points  out  how  much  the  order,  peace,  and  good 
covcrnment  of  fociety  are  influenced  by  female  chaf- 
tity  ;  and  how  each  of  them  are  unhinged  and  de- 
liroyed  by  incontinence.  Honour,  likewife,  comes 
in  as  an  auxiliary,  and  holds  up  to  their  view  the 
luflre  and  reputation  which  themfelves  and  their  fa- 
milies derive  from  their  decency  and  regularity  of 
conduct,  and  the  ftain  and  infamy  which  they  bring 
upon  both  by  lewdnefs  and  debauchery.  Thus  ter- 
rified by  fhame,  by  the  lofs  of  fociety,  and  by  the 
forfeiting  all  chance  of  a  hufband  fuitable  to  their 
rank,  and  encouraged  by  religion,  by  morality,  and 
honour,  we  trufl  fuch  women  as  have  arrived  at  the 
years  of  difcretion  to  themfelves,  and  experience 
fully  demonftrates,  that  we  place  not  our  truft  im- 
properly ;  and  that  thofc  methods  are  far  more  pre- 
valent than  locks,  bars,  eunuch0,  and  all  the  other 
barbarous  expedients  that  have  been  fallen  upon,  by 
nations  who  have  not  attained  to  fenfibility  enough 
to  clap  the  padlock  on  the  female  mind  initead  of  the 
body.  But  though  we  fulFer  women  of  experience 
to  be  the  guardians  of  their  own  virtue,  over  the 
young  and  the  giddy  who  have  not  attained  to  that 
degree  of  reafon  requifite  for  governing  their  paf- 
fions,  nor  to  that  experience  fufficient  to  direct  them 
|n  the  choice  of  a  hufband,  cuftom  has  placed  mo- 


OF  WOMEN.  33 

thers,  and  other  female  relations,  who  by  time  and 
obfervation  have  acquired  more  knowledge  of  the 
world,  whereby  they  are  enabled  to  fleer  their 
young  pupils  with  fafety  over  the  dangerous  rocks  of 
youthful  paflion  and  inexperience. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  fouthern  and  northern 
regions  of  the  globe  are  in  nothing  more  diftinguifh- 
able  from  each  other  than  the  different  methods  of 
fecuringthe  chaftity  of  their  women.  In  the  fouth, 
while  every  pofftble  reflriclion  is  laid  on  the  body, 
they  have  hardly  made  ufe  of  one  fmgle  precept  to 
bind  the  mind.  In  the  north,  while  they  have  laid 
every  poffible  reftriction  on  the  mind,  the  body  is 
left  entirely  at  liberty;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that 
none  of  the  religious  fy  (terns  of  the  fouth  cither  offer 
rewards  to  encourage  female  chaftity,  or  threaten 
punifhments  to  deter  them  from  incontinence.— 
While  almoft  every  religious  fyftem  of  the  north  has 
iffued  the  moil  poiitive  precepts  againfl  the  indifcre- 
tion  of  the  fex,  and  to  a  difobedience  of  thefe  precepts 
annexed  the  mod  dreadful  punifhment;  even  Maho- 
medifm,  which  is  a  compound  of  the  religions  of  both 
hemifpheres,  terrifies  not  the  female  finner  with  hell, 
or  any  future  flate  where  (lie  (hall  fuffer  for  her  levi- 
ties ;  all  that  fhe  has  to  fear  on  this  head,  is  the  dif- 
pleafure  and  correction  of  her  hufband.  While  in 
the  Edda,  or  facred  records  of  the  ancient  Scandi- 
navians, future  punifhments  of  the  raoft  tremendous 
nature  are  held  over  the  head  of  the  delinquent, 
'  there  is  a  place,'  fays  that  book,  '  remote  from  the 
£  fun,  the  gates  of  which  face  the  north;  poifon 
'  rains  there  through  a  thoufand  openings;  this  place 
'  is  all  compoled  of  the  carcafes  of  ferpents.  There 
e  run  certain  torrents,  in  which  are  plunged  the 
■  bodies  of  the  perjurers,    affafiins,  and   thofe  who 


34  THE  HISTORY 

4  fcduce  married  women.  A  black-winged  dragon 
6  flies  inceilantly  round,  and  devours  the  bodies  of 
'  the  wretched  who  are  there  imprifoned.'  So  far 
their  religion;  the  laws  of  almoft  all  the  northerns 
conftantly  breathed  the  fame  fpirit,  and  not  fatisfled 
that  their  women  iliould  refrain  from  real  urichaftity 
only,  they  would  not  even  allow  of  any  thing  that 
had  the  ilighteft  appearance  of  indecorum,  or  that 
might  raife  improper  ideas  in  the  mind. 

It  would  be  an  endlefs  talk  to  enumerate  the  laws 
which  in  every  well-regulated  country  have  the  fame 
tendency;  fuffice  it  to  fay,  that  in  all  fuch,  every 
violent  attempt  on  the  virtue  of  women  is  puninV.N.: 
either  by  death,  corporal  puniihment,  or  lofs  of  mo- 
ney. It  would  be  needlefs,  we  prcfmne,  to  enume- 
rate to  our  fair  readers,  the  various  interdictions 
againit  unchaiiity  almoft  every  where  to  be  met  with 
in  the  rules  of  the  Chriftian  religion,  interdictions 
which  none  of  them,  we  hope,  are  unacquainted 
with,  and  to  which  few  only  do  noi  pay  a  proper 
regard,  both  from  duty  and  inclination.  When  we 
therefore  confider  that  almou1  all  laws  human  and 
divine  have  fo  llrongly  inculcated  this  virtue,  when 
the  ingenuity  of  every  nation  has  been  fo  flrongly 
exerted  in  preserving  it,  we  hope  we  need  not  join 
our  feeble  efforts  in  recommending  it  to  our  country- 
i  ia  particul^^and  to  the  fex  in  general,  as  the 
tefl  ornament  of  their  character. 


OF  WOMEN.  3J 


CHAPTER     XVIII. 


Of  the  various  opinions  entertained  by  different  Na- 
tions concerning  Women. 


N  every  age  and  country,  have  flarted  up 
men  diftinguifhed  by  the  Angularity,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  by  the  abfurdity,  of  their  opinions.  The 
prefent  times  have  given  birth  to  feme  jAilofophers, 
v/ho  have  degraded  human  nature  to  the  lowed  pitch 
of  infipidity,  and  placed  it  below  the  birds  of  the  air 
and  the  beads  of  the  field.  According  to  them,  man 
was  at  full  endowed  with  nothing  but  an  imitative 
faculty,  and  was  obliged  to  employ  it  in  learning  ar- 
ticulate founds,  and  afterwards  mufic  from  the  birds, 
induflry  from  the  ants  and  bees,  architecture  from 
the  beaver,  and  almofi  all  the  other  arts  from  fome 
of  the  animals  which  he  faw  at  work  around  him. 
By  which  fcheine  they  have  dropt  a  man  at  firit 
from  the  hands  of  his  Creator,  by  far  the  mod  un- 
finimed  of  all  his  works;  and  have  gradually  traced 
his  advancement  to  the  exalted  rank  which  he  at  pre- 
fent holds  in  the  fcale  of  beings,  through  a  long  fe- 
ries  of  exertions  and  improvements  of  his  own. — 
What  an  extraordinary  animal  has  their  fancy  thus 
formed  ?  while  the  condition  of  all  the  other  animals 
is  fo  ftatibnary,  that  they  remain  at  this  day  nearly 
the  fame  as  at  the  creation,  they  have  given  to  man 
a  power  of  forming  his  own  intellectual  powers,  and 
of  fabricating  his  own  fortunes. 

When  Inch  are  the  general  ideas  that  fome  have 
entertained  of  our  fpecies,  and  when  fuch,  as  we 
fometimes  fee  it,  is  the  pride  and  arrogance  of  male 


36  THE  HISTORY 

nature,  we  need  not  wonder  at  the  mean  and  def- 
picable  opinions  we  fhall  find  in  the  profecution  of 
this  fubject,  entertained  of  a  fex,  whom  fatirical  wit- 
lings and  morofe  philofophers  have  employed  every 
talent  to  vilify  and  abufe. 

The  human  genus  has,  with  no  fmall  degree  of 
probability,  been  divided  by  naturalifls  into  fever al 
diftinct  fpecies,  each  marked  with  corporal  differ- 
ences, which  could  hardly  arife  from  cuftom  or  from 
climate,  and  with  intellectual  powers  fcarcely  lefs 
indicative  of  thisdivifion  than  the  marks  of  their  bo- 
dies. Thefe  fpecies,  like  thofe  of  moil  other  animals 
are  again  divided  into  fexes,  with  different  fentiments 
and  faculties,  adapted  to  the  different  purpofes  for 
which  they  were  intended.  So  far  the  diltinclions 
are  plain;  but  although  we  find  in  general  through 
the  whole  of  animated  nature  the  males  of  every  fpe- 
cies endowed  with. a  degree  of  bodily  ftrength,  fupe- 
rior  to  the  females,  yet  we  have  no  plain  indication 
of  any  fuperiority  conferred  upon  thefe  males  in  the 
powers,  faculties,  and  inftincts  with  which  their 
minds  are  furnimed.     Anions  the  brute  animals  we 

O 

do  not  recollect  that  any  one  has  been  hardy  enough 
to  contend  for  this  male  fuperiority  ;  among  human 
beings,  however,  it  has  been,  and  is  ftill  fo  firongly 
contended  for,  that  we  fhall  give  a  fhort  view  of 
this  contention,  as  the  hiftory  of  one  of  the  mofl 
material  peculiarities  of  opinion  that  has  been  en- 
tertained concerning  the  fex. 

Whether  this  fuppofed  fuperiority  is,  in  civil  life, 
owing  to  any  arrogance  inherent  in  male  nature,  or 
to  the  pride  of  more  numerous  acquifitions,  we  fhall 
not  at  prefent  examine;  in  favage  life  we  may  ac- 
count for  it  upon  another  principle.  We  have 
already  fecn,  that  among  the  rudefl  favages,  and  ill 


OF  WO  M  E  Iv. 


37 


the  earlier  ages  of  antiquity,  when  the  bulk  of  man- 
kind were  only  a  few  degrees  removed  from  that 
itate,  that  bodily  flrcngth  was  the  only  thing  held  in 
particular  eflimation;  and  women  having  rather  a 
lefs  portion  of  this  than  men,  were  on  that  account 
never  fo  much  efteemed,  nor  rated  at  fo  high  a  value 
from  the  body  it  was  eafy  to  make  a  tranfition  to  the 
mind,  and  fuppofe  its  powers  lefs  extenfible,  becaufe 
for  want  of  opportunities  they  were  lefs  extended, 
hence  an  inferiority,  which  arofe  only  from  circum- 
ftances,  was  fuppofed  to  have  arifen  from  nature,  and 
the  fex  were  accordingly  treated  as  beings  of  an  infe- 
rior order.  But  in  favage  life  the  difference  of 
bodily  Strength,  between  the  two  fexes  is  lefs  vifible 
than  in  civil  life.  Captain  Wallis  informs  us  that 
Obereah,  queen  of  Otaheite,  lifted  him  over  a 
marfh,  when  me  gallanted  him  to  her  houfe,  with 
as  much  eafe  as  he  could  have  done  a  little  s<irl :  and 
it  is  probable  that  there  is  ftill  lefs  difference  in  the 
faculties  of  the  mind,  and  if  there  is  any,  it  arifes 
not  fo  much  from  nature  as  from  want  of  exertion. 

Whether  the  idea  of  female  inferiority  arofe  folely 
from  the  caufes  we  have  now  mentioned  is  not  alto- 
gether certain,  but  from  whatever  fource  it  arofe,  we 
have  the  molt  undoubted  proofs  of  its  being  fo  widely 
diffeminated,  that  except  among  the  Egyptians,  and 
a  few  other  nations  which  borrowed  their  cui  torus 
and  culture  from  Egvpt,  it  was  from  the  mod  remote 
antiquity  firmly  eftablimed  among  every  people ;  for 
women  were  aFmoit  by  all  the  ancici  is  bought  and 
fold,  by  fome  of  them  borrowed.,  :cnt,  or  given 
away  at  pleafure,  and  conftantly  treated  as  the  pri- 
vate property  of  the  men;  circumftances  which  could 
not  have  happened  had  not  the  ideas  entertained  of 
them  given  rife  to  fuch  indignant  treatment. 

VOL.  II.  F 


38  THE  HISTORY 

This  indignant  treatment  of  thefemales  of  our  own 
fpecies  is  a  Angularity  of  behaviour  peculiar  to  man 
and  has  not  originated  from  anything  he  could  ob- 
ferve  aroutkl  him ;  for  the  males  of  the  brute  animals 
do  not,  fo  far  as  we  can  difcover,  ever  pretend  to 
govern,  direct,  or  difpofe  of  their  females;  nor, 
unlefs  in  the  flrength  of  their  bodies,  can  we  difcern 
that  they  are  any  way  fuperior  to  them.  The  female 
of  thofe  animals  that  hunt  for  prey,  are  as  fegacious 
in  dilcovering  and  catching  it  as  the  males.  The 
mare  and  the  grey-hound  bitch  are  as  fwift  as  the 
hone  or  the  dog,  of  their  fpecies.  The  females  of 
the  feathered  kind  feem  to  be  univerfally  more  intel- 
ligent than  the  males,  particularly  in  rearing  and 
taking  care  of  their  young.  Hence  it  appears,  that 
we  cannot  have  learned  from  analogy  to  confider 
women  as  fo  much  our  inferiors;  and  if  we  examine 
our  claim  of  fuperiority  with  impartiality,  we  mail 
perhaps  find,  that  unlefs  with  refpe£t  to  the  corpo- 
real powers  it  is  but  ill-founded.  But  partiality  and 
felf-love  in  this  examination  generally  give  a  bias  to 
our  judgments,  and  a  fondnefs  for  the  purfuits  and 
ftudies  in  which  we  are  engaged  makes  us  under-va- 
lue  all  fuch  as  are  directed  to  different  ends  and  pur- 
pofes,  though  in  themfelvcs  not  lefs  ufeful:  thus  men 
fet  the  greatefl  value  upon  the  martial  abilities  which 
diftinguifh  them  in  the  field,  or  upon  the  literary 
ones  which  make  them  confpicuous  as  ftatefmen  and 
orators,  while  they  hardly  ever  conlider  the  excel- 
lence of  female  fprightlinefs  and  vivacity,  qualities 
which  diffufe  gaiety  and  cheerfulnefs  around  them; 
nor  thofe  pains  which  the  fex  patiently  fuffer,  and 
powers  they  exert,  in  raifmg  up  a  generation  toiuc- 
ceed  us  when  we  (hail  be  no  more.  Are  thefe  Lefs 
ufeful  than  the  delegating  arts  of  war,  or  even  than 
the  fpeculations  of  the  ftatefcian  and  improvements  of 


OF   WOMEN.  3y 

the  philofopher  ;  or  are  the  women  lefs  diflinguifh- 
ed  in  them  than  the  men  are  in  the  other  ? 

But  let  us  take  a  flill  clearer  view  of  the  matter, 
and  we  fhall  find  that  this  boafted  pre-eminence  of 
the  men  is  at  lead  as  much  the  work  of  art  as  of  na- 
ture, and  that  women  in  thofe  favage  ftates,  where 
both  fexes  are  alike  unadorned  by  culture,  are,  per- 
haps, not  at  all  inferior  in  mind  to  the  other  fex, 
and  even  fcarcely  inferior  to  them  in  Itrength  of  bo- 
dy. This  iubject  is,  however,  of  the  mod  difficult 
nature  ;  to  inveftigate  with  preciiion  the  powers  siid 
propenfities  of  women,  it  is  neeeffary  to  be  a,  wo- 
man ;  to  inveftigate  thofe  of  men,  it  is  necefiiiry  to 
be  a  man  ;  to  compare  them  impartially,  to  be  fome- 
thing  different  from  either. 

In  order,  however,  to  obtain  the  mod  clear  and 
comprehenlive  view  of  the  corporeal  and  mental  dif- 
ference of  the  two  fexes  that  our  faculties  will  admit 
of,  we  fhall  begin  by  confidering  them  in  thofe  (fates 
where  they  approach  the  neareff  to  nature.  In  fach 
ftates,  the  difference  is  much  Ids  than  in  civil  fociety, 
where,  nourifhed  by  art,  and  formed  by  culture, 
both  fexes  affume  appearances  which  are  entirely  the 
offspring  of  that  culture  ;  and  efpecially  the  men, 
upon  whom  a  far  greater  mare  cf  it  is  bellowed. — 
And  in  fuch  ftates  we  find  the  female  endowed  with 
the  fame  patient  endurance  of  hunger,  thirlf,  cold, 
and  fatigue,  as  the  male  ;  inured  from  their  infancy 
to  toil,  hardfhip,  and  an  inclement  iky,  their  bodies 
acquire  nearly  the  fame  hard  and  robuil  appearance, 
and  they  are  capable  of  efforts  nearly  as  great  as  the 
men  ;  nor  are  the  faculties  of  their  minds  yifibly 
different.  Hunting  and  fifhing  are  the  chief  -employ- 
ment of  the  men,  and  in  thefe  arts,  when  we  confi- 
der  the  materials  they  have  to  work  with,  we  cannot 


4o  THE  HISTORY 

help  owning  that  they  mew  no  deipicable  {hare  of 
ingenuity  ;  proofs  of  which  are  every  where  to  be 
met  with  among  them  ;  fuch  proofs,  are  the  nThing- 
nets  that  our  late  difcoverers  found  they  employed 
in  the  South  Sea,  which  were  much  larger  and  bet- 
ter contrived  than  any  other  hitherto  made  in  Eur 
rope.  Such  are  fiili-hooks  which  they  make 
of  (hells  and  other  materials,  which  in  the  hand  of 
an  European  artift,  would  be  ufelefs  ;  and  fuch  are 
the  various  methods  of  decoying  and  fnaring  wild 
beads.  Proofs  of  their  genius  may  likewife  be 
drawn  from  the  manner  in  which  they  difcover  on 
the  ground  the  tracks  of  thefe  wild  beads,  or  of  their 
enemies  whom  they  are  purfuing  ;  from  their  faga- 
city  in  finding  their  way  acrofs  long  and  pathlefs  de- 
ferts,  covered  with  wood,  and  from  a  variety  of  other 
circumftances  :  but  this  ingenuity  extends  itfelf  only 
to  the  narrow  circle  of  hunting,  fifhing,  and  war, 
beyond  which  their  ideas  have  hardly  ever  reached  ; 
in  many  places  not  even  fo  far  as  to  fhelter  them- 
felves  from  the  weather  by  cloaths  and  by  houfes,  or 
to  lave  any  of  the  provifions  of  a  prefent  hour,  for 
a  time  of  future  fcarcity. 

Such  are  men  in  favage  life.  In  confulering  wo- 
men, we  fhu.ll  fee,  that  in  the  province  to  which 
they  are  confined,  they  at  leafl  equal  their  men  in 
art  and  ingenuity.  In  fome  countries  they  have 
carried  the  art  of  dyeing  certain  colours  to  no  incon- 
siderable degree  of  perfection  ;  in  others,  that  of 
making  trinkets  and  ornaments  of  fuch  materials  as 
in  Europe  we  could  not  turn  to  any  poilible  ufe  ; 
and  their  method  of  bringing  up  children  is  almofi 
every  where  more  agreeable  to  nature,  and  confe- 
quently  preferable  to  that  of  the  more  polifhed  na- 
tions ;  but  here  their  progrefs  is  at  an  end  ;  and  like 
the  men,  their  little  fpan  of  knowledge  and  inven- 


OF  WOMEN.  41 

tion  is  confined  within  a  narrow  circle,  which  from 
the  beginning  of  time,  like  the  lea?  has  had  its 
<  hitherto  malt  thou  come,  hut  no  farther.' 

On  comparing  the  aggregate  of  the  corporeal  and 
intellectual  powers  of  the  two  fexes  in  ravage  life, 
the  difference  will  appear  much  lefs  than  it  generally 
does  on  a  fuperikia!  view.  Though  in  the  hunting, 
flihing,  and  warlike  excurfions  of  the  men,  there 
appears  a  confiderable  mare  of  art  and  ingenuity; 
yet  thefe  arts  have  among  them  been  time  immemo- 
rial in  a  ftationary  condition,  and  time  immemorial 
have  alfo  been  taught  by  fathers  to  their  ions,  with- 
out the  fons  ^ver  having  deviated  from  the  road 
chalked  out  by  their  fathers,  or  thinking  of  adding 
any  improvements  to  what  they  perhaps  coniidered 
as  already  perfect.  Though,  in  the  dyeing  and 
making  of  trinkets  as  practifed  by  the  women,  there 
is  alfo  an  appearance  of  art,  we  have  not  the  leafl 
doubt,  that  they  are  rather  cuilomary  operations, 
which  they  have  for  many  ages  performed  without 
the  fmalleic  improvement  or  variation,  this  we  the 
more  readily  believe,  when  we  confider,  that  in 
many  places  the  domeflic  employments  and  ccconomy 
of  favages,  is  nearly  the  fame  as  in  the  patriarchal 
a?es. 

o 

When,  from  lavage  lifc%  we  proceed  to  confider 
the  ihare  that  each  fex  has  had  in  the  progrefs  of 
thofe  improvements,  which  lead  to  civilization,  it 
appears,  that  each,  in  its  proper  fi-here,  has  con- 
tributed nearly,  in  an  equal  proportion,  to  this 
great  and  valuable  purpofe.  The  art  of  fp  Inning, 
one  of  the  moil  ufeful  that  ever  was  invented,  is, 
by  all  antiquity,  afcribed  to  women:  the  Egyptians 
give  the  honour  of  it  to  liis;  the  Chineie,  to  the 
confort  of  their   emperor  Yao.     This,  and  die  art 


*  •  , 


42  THE  HISTORY 

offewing,  an  art  hardly  lefs  neceffary,  the  fables 
and  traditions  of  almoft  all  nations  afcribe  to  the  fair 
fex.  The  Lydians  afcribed  them  to  Arachne;  the 
Greeks  to  Minerva;  the  antient  Peruvians  to  Mama- 
Oella,  wife  to  Manco-capac,  their  firft  fovereign; 
and  the  Romans  gave  the  invention,  not  only  or 
fpinning  and  fewing,  but  alio  of  weaving,  to  their 
women.  Such,  and  perhaps  many  many  others  ot 
a  fnnilar  nature,  were  the  contributions  of  female 
genius  towards  the  utility  and  convenience  of  life; 
contributions  which  at  leafl  equal,  if  not  rival,  what- 
ever has  been  done  by  the  boaif  ed  ingenuity  of  man. 

When  we  furvey  the  vafl  continent  of  Africa  and 
America,  where  almoft  every  thing  but  fiihing  and 
hunting. devolves  on  the  women,  we  there  find  paf- 
turage  and  agriculture,  with  the  other  arts  which 
contribute  to  the  convenience  of  life,  in  the  fame 
rude  flate  in  which  they  were  in  the  days  ol  Homer; 
the  arts  and  iciences  hardly  known,  letters  totally 
uifregarded,  and  domeftic  ceconomy  extremely  rude 
and  imperfect;  and  fuch,  in  general,  is  the  con- 
ditions of  all  countries,  where  almoft  every  thing  is 
left  to  the  management  of  their  women.  But  even 
this  is  no  abfolute  fign  of  their  inferiority,  or  want 
of  genius;  they  are  here  taken  out  of  that  fphere, 
which  nature  marked  out  for  them,  and  introduced 
into  another,  to  which  fhe  neither  adapted  their 
talents  nor  abilities;  and  we  may  with  equal  reaion 
blame  the  men  for  not  improving  the  arts  of  fpinning 
and  of  nurfing;  as  the  women  for  not  improving  agri- 
culture and  the  other  arts,  to  which  male  talents 
and  abilities  only  are  adapted. 

When  from  thefe  countries  we  turn  towards  Eu- 
rope, where  almoft  every  thing  is  managed  and 
directed  by  the  men,  a  different  fcene  prefents  itfelf : 


OF  WOMEN.  43 

there  we  not  only  find  a  great  variety  of  improvements 
already  far  advanced,  but  alfo  a  laudable  ipirit  of 
emulation,  and  a  thirft  after  new  difcoveries,  univer- 
fally  prevailing;  and  frequently  producing  frefh 
acquifitions  to  the  itock  of  knowledge,  and  to  the 
conveniences  of  life.  Thefe,  at  firft  view,  feem  plain 
indications,  that  the  genius  of  men  in  leading  the 
human  fpecies  from  an  uncultivated  to  a  cultivated 
ftate,  is  fuperior  to  that  of  women;  but,  on  more 
deliberate  confideration,  they  prove  no  more  than 
that  each  fex  has  its  particular  qualities,  and  is  fit- 
ted by  the  Author  of  nature  for  accomplishing  differ- 
ent purpofes. 

What  we  have  now  advanced,  points  out  to  us 
the  reafon,  why  women  have  feldom  or  never  con- 
tributed to  the  improvement  of  the  abflract  fciences : 
but  there  is  flill  another  reafon ;  the  fex  are  almoft 
every  where  negle&ed  in  their  education,  and  in 
fome  degree  flaves ;  and  it  is  well  known,  that  fla- 
very  throws  a  damp  on  the  genius,  clouds  the  fpirits, 
and  takes  more  than  half  the  worth  away  from  every 
human  being.  The  hillory  of  every  period,  and  of 
evey  people,  prefents  us  with  fome  exn-aordmary 
women,  who  have  foared  above  all  thefe  difadvan- 
tages,  and  fhone  in  ail  the  different  characters, 
which  render  men  eminent  and  conspicuous.  Syria 
furnifhes  us  with  a  Semiramis,  Africa  with  a  Zeno- 
bia;  both  famous  for  their  lieroifm  and  fkill  in  so- 
vernment.  Greece  and  Rome,  with  many  who  let 
public  examples  of  courage  and  fortitude;  Germany 
and  England  have  exhibited  queens,  whofe  talents 
in  the  field,  and  in  the  cabinet,  would  have  done 
honour  to  any  fex;  but  it  was  referved  for  RulTm, 
in  the  perfon  of  the  prefent  Emprefs,  to  join  both  ta- 
lents, and  to  add  to  them,  what  is  flill  more  noble, 
an  inclination  to   favour  the   fciences,    and  reftore 


44  THE  HISTORY 

the  aaturai  rights  of  mankind  ;  rights  which  almoit 
every  other  (overeign  has  endeavoured  to  deflroy. 
Upon  the  whole,  we  may  conclude,  that  though  in 
the  progrefs  of  mankind  from  ignorance  to  know- 
ledge, women  have,  for  the  reafons  already  affigned, 
feldora  taken  the  lead.  Yet  they  have  not  been 
backward  to  follow  the  path  to  utility  or  improve- 
ment, when  pointed  out  to  them. 

We  have  juft  now  feen,  that,  in  favage  life,  the 
fexual  difference,  as  far  as  it  regards  ftrength  and 
activity  of  body,  is  not  very  confiderable  ;  as  fociety 
advances,  this  difference  becomes  more  perceptible  ; 
and  in  countries  the  moil  polifhed,  is  fo  confpicuous 
as  to  appear  even  to  the  {lighted  oblerver.  In  fuch 
countries,  the  women  are,  in  general,  weak  and 
delicate  ;  but  thefe  qualities  are  only  the  remit  of 
art,  otherwife  they  would  uniformly  mark  the  fex, 
however  circumflanced  ;  but  as  this  is  not  the  cafe, 
we  may  attribute  them  to  a  fedentary  life,  a  low 
ahftemious  diet,  and  exclufion  from  the  freffi  air  ; 
but  thefe  caufes  do  not  (lop  here  ;  their  influence 
roachs  farther,  and  is  productive  of  that  laxity  ol 
the  female  fibres,  and  fenlibility  of  nerves,  which 
while  it  gives  birth  to  half  their  foibles,  is  the  fource 
alfo  of  many  of  the  finer  feelings,  for  which  v.  e 
value  and  admire  them  ;  and  of  which  bodies  of 
a  firmer  texture,  and  of  ftronger  nerves,  are  entirely 
deflitute.  However  paradoxical  this  may  appear  to 
thofe  who  have  not  attended  to  the  fubject,  we  fcruple 
not  to  affirm,  that  fuch  is  the  effect  of  want  of  exer- 
cife,  confined  air,  and  low  diet,  that  they  will  foon 
reduce,  not  only  the  robult  bod  v,  but  the  moll  refolute 
mind,  to  a  fet  of  weakneffes  and  feelings  fimilar  to 
thefe  of  the  mod  delicate  and  timorous  female. — 
This  being  granted,  we  lay  it  down  as  a  general 
rule,  that   to  the  difference  of  education,  and  the 


OF  WOMEN.  45 

different  manner  of  living  which  the  fexes,  have 
adopted,  is  owing  a  great  part  of  their  corporeal 
difference,  as  well  as  the  difference  of  their  intellec- 
tual faculties  and  feelings ;  and  we  perfuade  ourlelves 
that  nature,  in  forming  the  bodies  and  minds  of 
both  fexes,  has  been  nearly  alike  liberal  to  each  ; 
and  that  any  apparent  difference  in  the  exertions  of 
the  ftrength  of  the  one,  or  the  reafonings  of  the 
other,  are  much  more  the  work  of  art  than  of 
nature. 

We  know  it  is  a  generally  eftablifhed  opinion,  that 
in  ftrength  of  mind,  as  well  as  of  body,  men  are 
greatly  fuperior  to  women ;  an  opinion  into  which 
we  have  been  led,  by  not  duly  confidering  the  pro- 
per propenfities  and  paths  chalked  out  to  each  by  the 
Author  of  their  nature,  and  the  powers  given  them 
to  follow  thefe  paths  and  propenlicies.  Men  are  en- 
dowed with  boldnefs  and  courage,  and  women  are 
not;  the  reafon  is  plain,  thefe  are  beauties  in  our 
character,  in  theirs  they  would  be  defects.  Our 
genius  often  leads  us  to  the  great  and  the  arduous  ; 
theirs  to  the  foft  and  the  pleafing :  we  bend  our 
thoughts  to  make  life  convenient ;  they  turn  theirs 
to  make  it  eafy  and  agreeable.  Would  it  be  difficult 
for  women  to  aca^ire  the  endowments  allotted  to  us 
by  nature  ?  It  would  be  as  much  fo  for  us  to  acquire 
thofe  peculiarly  allotted  to  them.  Are  we  fuperior 
to  them  in  what  belongs  to  the  male  character  ?  they 
are  no  lefs  fo  to  us  in  what  belongs  to  the  female. 
But  whether  are  male  or  female  endowments  mod 
ufeful  in  life  ?  This  we  (hall  not  pretend  to  deter- 
mine ;  and  till  it  be  determined,  we  cannot  decide 
the  claim  which  men  or  women  have  to  fuperior  ex- 
cellence. But  to  purfue  this  idea  a  little  further; 
Would  it  not  be  highly  ridiculous  to  find  fault  with 
the  fnail,  becaufe  fhe  cannot  run  as  fad  as  the  hare, 

vol.  it.  G 


46       '  THE  HISTORY 

or  with  the  lamb,  becaufe  he  is  not  fo  bold  as  the 
lion  ?  Would  it  not  be  requiring  from  each  an  exer- 
tion of  powers  that  nature  had  not  given,  and  de- 
ciding of  their  excellence,  by  comparing  them  to  a 
wrong  ftandard  ?  would  it  not  appear  rather  ludi- 
crous to  fay,  that  a  man  was  endowed  only  with  in- 
ferior abilities,  becaufe  he  was  not  expert  in  the 
nurfmg  of  children,  and  pra<ftifing  the  various  effe- 
minacies, which  we  reckon  lovely  in  a  woman  ? 
Would  it  be  reafonable  to  condemn  him  on  thefe  ac- 
counts ?  Jul!  as  reafonable  is  it,  to  reckon  women 
inferior  to  men,  becaufe  their  talents  are  in  general 
not  adapted  to  tread  the  horrid  path  of  war,  nor  to 
trace  the  mazes  and  intricacies  of  fcience.  Horace, 
who  is  by  all  allowed  to  have  been  an  adept  in  the 
knowledge  of  mankind,  fays,  "  In  vain  do  we  en- 
deavour to  expel  what  nature  has  planted."  And 
we  may  add,  In  vain  do  we  endeavour  to  cultivate 
what  fhe  has  not  planted.  Equally  abfurd  is  it  to 
compare  women  to  men,  and  to  pronounce  them 
inferior,  becaufe  they  have  not  the  fame  qualities, 
and  in  the  fame  perfection. 

We  (hall  finifh  this  fubjeft,  by  obferving,  that  if 
women  are  inferior  to  men,  they  are  the  moil  fo  in 
nations  highly  polifhed  and  refined ;  there,  in  point  of 
bodily  ftrcngth,  for  the  reafons  already  ailigned,  they 
are  certainly  inferior  ;  and  fuch  is  the  influence  of 
body  upon  mind,  that  to  this  laxity  of  body  we  may 
fairly  trace  many,  if  not  all  the  weakneffes  of  mind, 
which  we  are  apt  to  reckon  blemifhes  in  the  female 
character.  Thofe  who  have  been  conftantly  hlefTed 
with  a  rob u ft  conftiiution,  and  a  mind  not  delicately 
fufceptible,  may  laugh  at  this  aifertion  as  ridiculous ; 
but  to  thofe,  in  whom  accidental  weaknefs  of  body 
has  given  birth  to  nervous  feelings,  with  which  tin  t 


OF  WOMEN.  47 

were  never  before  acquainted,  it  will  appear  in  ano- 
ther light.  But  there  is  a  further  reafon  for  the 
greater  difference  between  the  fexes  in  civil,  than 
in  favage  life,  which  is  the  difference  of  education  j 
while  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  males  are  gra- 
dually opened  and  expanded  by  culture,  in  a  variety 
of  forms  :  thofe  of  females  are  commonly  either  left 
to  nature,  or,  which  is  worfe,  warped  and  biaiTed 
by  frippery  and  folly,  under  the  name  of  education. 

This  idea  of  the  inferiority  of  female  nature,  has 
drawn  after  it  feveral  others  the  moil  humiliating  to 
the  fex,  as  well  as  abfurd  and  unreafonable.  Such 
is  the  pride  of  man,  that  wherever  the  doctrine  of 
immortality  has  obtained  footing,  he  has  confined 
that  immortality  entirely  to  his  own  genus,  and  con- 
sidered it  as  a  prerogative  much  too  exalted  for  any 
other  beings.  And  in  fome  countries,  not  flopping 
here,  he  has  alfo  considered  it  as  a  diflinction  too  glo- 
rious to  be  expected  by  women,  whom  he  looks 
upon  in  too  low  and  diminutive  a  light  to  deierve  it. 
And  thus  degrading  the  fair  partners  of  his  nature, 
he  places  them  on  a  level  with  the  beafts  that  perifli. 
When,  or  where  this  oppinion  firft  began,  is  uncer- 
tain: it  could  not,  however,  be  of  very  ancient  date; 
as  the  belief  of  immortality  never  obtained  much 
footing  till  it  was  revealed  by  the  Gofpel.  As  the 
Aliatics  have  time  immemorial  regarded  women  only 
as  inftruments  of  animal  pleafure,  and  in  every  other 
refpect  treated  them  as  beings  beneath  their  notice, 
it  probably  originated  among  them,  which  we  the 
more  firmly  believe,  when  we  confider,  that  the 
Mahometans,  both  in  Alia  and  in  Europe,  are  laid, 
by  a  great  variety  of  writers,  to  entertain  this  opi- 
nion. Lady  Montague,  in  her  letters,  has  oppofed 
this  general  affertion  of  the  writers  concerning  the 
Mahometans,  and  fays,  that  they  do  not  abfolutely 


43  THE  HISTORY 

deny  the  exiftence  of  female  fouls,  but  only  hold 
them  to  be  of  a  nature  inferior  to  thofe  of  men,  and 
that  they  enter  not  into  the  fame,  but  into  an  infe- 
rior paradife  prepared  for  them  on  purpofe.  We 
pretend  not  to  decide  the  difpute  between  Lady 
Montague  and  the  other  writers,  whom  (lie  has  con- 
tradicted, but  think  it  poflible  that  both  may  be 
right;  as  the  former  might  be  the  opinion  of  Turks 
brought  with  them  from  Afia ;  the  latter,  as  a  re- 
finement upon  it,  they  may  have  adopted  by  their 
intercourle  with  the  Europeans.  Or  it  may  be  the 
effect  of  the  dawning  of  human  reafon,  which  at 
prefent  feems  to  be  expanding  itfelf  with  greater 
vigour  than  it  has  done  for  many  centuries  pall. 

This  opinion,  that  women  were  a  fort  of  mecha- 
nical beings,  only  created  for  the  pleafures  of  the 
men,  whatever  votaries  it  may  have  had  in  the  Eaft, 
has  had  but  few  in  Europe ;  a  few,  however,  have 
even  here  maintained  it,  and  afTigned  various  and 
fometimes  laughable  reafons  for  lo  doing:  among 
thefe,  a  ftory  we  have  heard  of  a  Scots  clergyman  is 
not  the  leaft  particular.  This  peaceable  fon  of  Levi, 
whofe  wife  was,  it  feems,  a  defcendant  of  the  fa- 
mous Xantippe,*  in  going  through  a  courfe  of  lec- 
tures on  the  Revelations  of  St.  John,  firft  took  up 
the  opinion,  that  the  fex  had  no  fouls,  and  were 
incapable  of  future  rewards  and  puniihments.  It 
was  no  fooner  known  in  the  country  that  he  main- 
tained fuch  a  doctrine,  than  he  was  fummoned  be- 
fore a  prefbytery  of  his  brethren,  to  be  dealt  with 
according  to  his  delinquency.  When  he  appeared 
at  their  bar  they  alked  him,  If  he  really  held  fo  he 

*  Xantippe  was  the  wife  of  Socrates,  and  the  mod  famous 
fcold  of  antiquity. 


O  F  WO  MEN.  49 

retical  an  opinion  ?  He  told  them  plainly,  that  he 
did.  On  defiring  to  be  informed  of  his  reafons  for 
fo  doing,  '  In  the  Revelations  of  St.  John  the  Di- 
'  vine,'  faid  he,  *  you  will  find  this  paflage  ;  '  And 

•  there  was  filence  in  heaven  for  about  the  fpace  of 
'  half  an  hour  :  And  I  appeal  to  all  of  you,  to  tell 
'  me,  whether  that  could  pofiibly  have  happened 
'  had  there  been  any  women  there  ?  And  fmce  there 
4  are  none  there,  charity  forbids  us  to  imagine  that 
'  they  are  all  in  a  worfe  place  ;  therefore  it  follows, 
'  that  they  have  no  immortal  part ;  and  happy  is  it 
'  for  them,  as  they  are  thereby  exempted  from  be- 
c  ing  accountable  for  all  the  noife  and  diilurbance 

*  they  have  raifed  in  this  world/ 

Some  tribes  of  the  Afiatic  Tartars  are  of  the  fame 
opinion  with  this  reverend  gentleman.  '  Women,' 
fay  they,  '  were  fent  into  the  world  only  to  be  our 
fervants,  and  propagate  the  fpecies,  the  only  pur- 
pofes  to  which  their  natures  are  adapted  ;'  on  this 
account  their  women  are  no  fooner  pad  child-bear- 
ing, than  believing  that  they  have  accompiiihed  the 
defign  of  their  creation,  the  men  no  farther  cohabit 
with,  or  regard  them.  The  ancient  Chinele  carried 
this  idea  dill  farther  ;  women,  according  to  fome  of 
them,  were  the  mod  wicked  and  malevolent  of  all 
the  beings  which  had  been  created  ;  and  a  few  of 
their  ancient  philofophers  advifed,  that  on  this  account 
they  ought  always  to  be  put  to  death  as  foon  as  pail 
child-bearing,  as  they  could  then  be  of  no  farther 
ufe,  and  only  contributed  to  the  didurbance  of  foci- 
ety.  Ideas  of  a  fimilar  nature  feem  to  have  been  at 
this  time  generally  diffufed  over  the  Ead  ;  for  we 
find  Solomon,  almod 'every  where  in  his  writings, 
exclaiming  againil  the  wickednefs  of  women ;  and 
in  the  Apocrypha,  the  author  of  the  Ecclefiadicus, 
is  dill  more  illiberal  in  his  reflections :  '  From  gar- 


5o  THE  .HISTORY 

4  mcnts,'  fays  he,  *  cometh  a  moth,  and  from  wo- 
'  men.wickednefs.'  Both  thefe.  authors,  it  ir.  true, 
join  in  the  molt  enraptured  manner  to  praife  a  virtu- 
ous woman,  but  take  care  at  the  fame  time  to  let  us 
know,  that  (he  is  fo  great  a  rarity  as  to  be  very  fel- 
dom  met  with. 

Nor  have  the  Afiatics  alone  been  addieled  to  this 
illiberality  of  thinking  concerning  the  fe$.  Satirifls 
of  all  ages  and  countries,  while  they  flattered  them 
to  their  faces,  have  from  their  clofets  molt  profufely 
fcattered  their  fpleen  and  ill-nature  againil  them. 
Of  this  the  Greek  and  Roman  poets  afford  a  variety 
of  initances  ;  but  they  muff  neverthelefs  yield  the 
palm  to  onr  doughty  moderns.  In  the  following 
lines,  Pope  has  outdone  every  one  of  them. 

"  Men  fome  to  pkafure,  fome  to  bufinefs  take, 
"  But  every  woman  is  at  heart  a  rake." 

Swift  and  Dr.  Young  have  hardly  been  behind  this 
celebrated  Jplenetic  in  illiberality.  They  perhaps 
were  not  favourites  of  the  fair,  and  in  revenge 
vented  all  their  envy  and  fpleen  again!!  them.  But 
a  more  modern  and  accomplished  writer,  who,  by 
his  rank  in  life,  by  his  natural  and  acquired  graces 
was  undoubtedly  a  favourite,  has  repaid  their  kind- 
nefs  by  taking  every  opportunity  of  exhibiting  them 
in  the  moll  contemptible  light.  '  Almoif.  every 
4  man,'  fays  he,  c  may  be  gained  fome  way;  alhrolt 
'  every  woman  any  way.'  Can  any  thing  exhibit  a 
ftronger  caution  to  the  women !  It  is  fraught  with 
information,  and  we  hope  they  will  ufe  it  accord- 
ingly. 


OF  WOMEN.  51 


CHAPTER     XIX. 


The  fa  me  Subjecl  continued. 


-BESIDES  the  opinions  which  have  been 
entertained  of  women,  in  confequence  of  their  fup- 
pofed  inferiority,  there  is  one  fcarcely  lefs  ancient 
or  lefs  univerfal,  which  has  originated  from  a  very 
different  fource  ;  and  which  foppofes  the  fex  always 
to  have  been  peculiarly  addicted  to  hold  a  communi- 
cation with  invifible  bekigs,  who  endowed  them 
with  Dowers  fuoerior  to  human  nature ;  the  exer- 
cife  of  which  has  been  diltinguifhed  by  the  name  of 
witchcraft. 

That  a  notion  of  this  kind  prevailed  in  an  early- 
period  of  the  world,  we  learn  from  the  ftory  of  Saul 
the  firft.  king  of  Ifrael,  who  went  to  confult  the 
witch  of  Endor  concerning  his  own  fate,  and  the 
fate  of  the  war  in  which  he  was  engaged  ;  and  from 
that  time  downward,  both  facred  and  prophane 
hiilory  make  it  plainly  appear,  that  this  belief  of 
witches,  or  dealers  with  familiar  fpirits,  as  they  are 
called,  was  almoft  un<rerialiy  diifeminated  over  the 
whole  world  ;  infomuch  that  wc  are  hardly  ac- 
quainted with  the  hi  (lory. of  any  people,  either  an- 
cient or  modern,  among  whom  it  has  not,  gained 
fome  degree  of  credit.  Even  the  inhabitants  of  the 
iequeflered  ifiands  in  the  South  Sea,  who  have  not, 
perhaps,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  had  any  com- 
munication with  the  reft  of  mankind,  have  imbibed 
the  general  opinion;  for  we  are  told,  that  the  mak- 
ing of   their   mahie,  or  common  beverare,  is  eene- 


52  THE  HISTORY 

rally  the  work  of  old  women,  who  obferve  feveral 
fuperftitious  ceremonies,  which  they  reckon  abfo- 
lutely  neceilary  to  the  fuccefs  of  their  operation,  and 
guard  againft  feveral  things  which  they  fuppofc 
would  as  abfolutely  fpoil  it ;  among  which  none  can 
be  more  fatal  than  the  touch  of  any  perfon  not  actu- 
ally concerned  in  the  work. 

In  our  times  this  fuperftitious  idea  of  witchcraft  is 
the  molt  prevalent  among  nations  the  mod  ignorant 
and  uncultivated.  In  fome  periods,  at  leaft,  of  an- 
tiquity, it  appears  to  have  been  the  reverfe ;  for  the 
Greeks,  even  in  their  mod  flourishing  and  enlight- 
ened periods,  were  almoft  in  every  circumftance  the 
dupes  of  it;  and  the  Romans  following  their  exam- 
ple were,  perhaps,  ftill  more  fo.  Nothing  either 
fportive  or  ferious,  trifling  or  confequential,  was  un- 
dertaken in  Greece  or  Rome,  without  the  perform- 
ance of  fome  fuperftitious  ceremonies,  reckoned  ab- 
folutely neceflary  to  infure  its  fuccefs. 

All  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  North  paid  the 
greateft  regard  both  to  the  perfons  and  dictates  of 
fuch.  women  as  were  reckoned  witches,  and  their 
opinion  of  the  exiftence  of  fuch  beings  was  tranfmit- 
ted  down  to  their  pofterity,  who,  after  the  conqueft 
of  the  Roman  empire,  had  now  peopled  all  Europe; 
but  the  doctrines  of  chriftianity,  which  many  of 
thefe  began  by  degrees  to  embrace,  changed  their 
former  veneration  for  witches  into  the  utmoft  hatred 
and  deteftation;  and  inftead  of  the  honours  that 
were  formerly  heaped  upon  them,  fuch  unhappy 
beings  as  were  now  fufpedted  of  that  crime,  became 
fubject  to  the  moft  horrid  barbarities  that  a  blinded 
legiflature  and  a  furioufly  enthufiaftic  populace  could 
inflict. 


OF  WOMEN,  5-3 

Though  this  fufpicion  of  having  intercourfe  with 
inviiible  beings  has  in  moil  ages  and  countries  fallen 
chiefly,  it  has  not  fallen  altogether,  on  the  women. 
The  Egyptians  had  their  magicians,  the  Babyloni- 
ans their  foothfayers,  and  the  Periians  their  magi, 
who  were  all  of  the  mafculine  gender;  among  almoft 
all  other  nations  the  females  have  been  for  the  mod 
part  confulted  as  witches,  or  dealers  in  the  fecrets  of 
futurity.  How  the  original  idea  of  witches  was  at 
firft  fuggefted  to  mankind,  is  not  eafily  accounted 
for  ;  it  is  ftill  more  difficult  to  affign  a  reafon,  why 
this  idea  was  in  all  ages  fo  intimately  connected  with 
women,  and  particularly  with  old  women.  The 
witch  of  Endor  is  introduced  as  an  old  woman,  and 
in  every  fiibfequent  period  jhiftorians,  painters,  and 
poets,  have  all  exhibited  their  witches  as  old  wo- 
men ;  nor  can  we  without  pain  relate,  that  a  majo- 
rity of  thofe  unhappy  creatures  condemned  a  few 
centuries  ago  in  all  the  criminal  courts  of  Europe, 
were  old  women.  Might  we  hazard  a  conjecture 
on  this  fubject,  we  would  fuppofe  that  in  the  earlier 
ages  of  the  world,  while  women  were  only  kept  as 
instruments  of  animal  pleafure,  and  only  valued 
while  they  had  youth  and  beauty,  as  foon  as  thefe 
were  over,  they  were  deferted  by  fociety  and  left 
to  languidi  in  folitude ;  a  fituation  which  is  of  all 
others  that  in  which  the  human  mind  is  moll  fuf- 
ceptible  of  wifdom,  which  wifdom  foon  making  them 
more  confpicuous  than  the  ignorant  crowd  from 
which  they  had  been  exiled,  might  give  birth  to  a 
notion,  that  they  were  afTitted  by  invifible  agents. 

This  may  infome  meafure  explain  to  us  the  origin 
of  the  idea  of  witches,  fo  far  as  it  relates  to  old  wo- 
men, but  leaves  the  origin  of  the  general  idea  iliil 
involved  in  the  fame  obfcurity.  We  flatter  our- 
felves,  however,  that  fome  light  may  be   thrown 

VOL.  II.  H 


54  THE  HISTORY 

even  on  the  general  idea  by  the,  following  obferva- 
tions  :  we  are  told  in  fcripture,  thai  in  h  earlier 
periods  of  the  world,  a  communication  between 
celeflial  and  human  beings,  was  not  uncommon. — 
God  appeared  to  our  firft  parents  in  the  garden  of 
Eden  ;  the  angels  came  to  Lot,  to  warn  him  of  the 
deftruction  of  Sodom  ;  to  Abraham,  to  intimate  to 
him  the  birth  of  a  fon  in  his  old  age  ;  and  Mofes  is 
laid  to  have  feen  God  face  to  face,  when  he  receiv- 
ed from  him  the  tables  upon  the  mount.  Nor  was 
this  opinion  peculiar  to  the  Ifraelites,  the  gods  of 
the  other  nations  were  faid  almoft  conflantly  to  live 
with  them,  to  appear  in  a  familiar  manner  an  i  com- 
municate their  orders  to  them,  and  even  to  beget 
children  with  their  women.  Bacchus  taugh  man- 
kind the  ufe  of  the  grape,  and  Ceres,  a  female  di- 
vinity, inflructed  them  in  the  ufe  of  corn ;  even  Ju- 
piter, their  fupreme  deity,  frequently  came  down  to 
the  earth,  and  cohabited  with  their  women  ;  when 
iuch  were  the   ideas  generally  diff(  \    that 

good  beings  of  all  denominations  frequeti :  red 

to,  and  communicated  fome  of  their  knowledge  and 
their  power  to  mortals,  it  was  but  carrying  them 
one  ftep  farther,  and  fuppofmg  that  evil  beings, 
likewife,  did  the  fame  thing  for  the  purpofes  of 
mifchief;  and  hence  thofe  who  were  mppofed  to 
communicate  with  good  beings  probably  were  called 
prophets,  and  thofe  who  communicated  with  evil 
ones,  witches,  wizzards,  Sec. ;  nor  does  this  fei  m 
altogether  conjecture,  for  mention  is  made  in  the 
facred  writings  of  evil  fpirits,  who  had  their  falic 
prophets,  to  whom  they  dictated  lies,  in  order  to 
lead  to  deftruction  thofe  who  liftened  to  them. 

Such  poffibly  might  be  the  origin  of  witchcraft; 
and  fuch  the  reafons  why  old  women  were  molt 
commonly  fufpe&ed  of  it.     But  it  dill  remains  to  be 


OF  WOMEN. 


55 


confidered  why  the  fex  in  general  were  thought  to 
have  bv  en  more  addicted  to  it  than  the  men  ;  the 
reafons  of  this  abb  may,  perhaps,  be  discovered  in 
the  different  habitudes  and  ways  of  life  of  the  two 
fexes.  From  the  remoteft  antiquity  the  men  inured 
to  hunting,  fifning,  and  padurage,  were  condantly 
abroad  in  the  open  air  ;  they  were  confequently 
healid  Ful  ad  robuft,  and  not  fubjecl  to  thefe  nervous 
weakneiTes  and  fpafmodic  fits  which  fo  ftrongly  cha- 
ra£te  fe  modern  ages,  and  have  often  been  fuppofed 
the  effect  of  witchcraft.  The  women  on  the  con- 
trary, of  a  more  delicate  frame,  more  confined  by 
their  d  >meftic  and  fedentary  employments,  and  the 
jeaidufy  of  their  hufbands  and  relations,  and  per- 
haps, even  more  fimple  than  the  men  in  their  diet, 
would  be  much  more  i'ubjecl  to  nervous  weakneiTes, 
and  all.  the  uncommon  appearances  that  fometimes 
attend  them  ;  in  the  paroxyfms  of  thefe  nervous  dif- 
:rs,  they  would  frequently  utter  the  moll  ftrange 
and  ii.roherent  language,  and  as  the  ancient  manner 
of  c  lginftruciion  and  predicting  future  events 

was  i only  in  this  unconnected  allegorical  (train, 

ace-  d  with  extraordinary  gestures  and  contor- 

.  lions  of  I  he  body,  fuch  rhapfodical  efFufions,  die  mere 
effect  of  nervous  irritability,  might  be  eafily  miila- 
ken  for  the  infpiration  either  of  good  or  evil  beings, 
and  therefore  women,  being  more  fubje&  to  fuch 
fits  than  men,  might  be  more  commonly  denominated 
propheteifes,  or  witches,  according  to  the  nature  ■  >f 
the  fpirit  with  which  it  was  fuppofed  they  were  agi- 
tated. 

That  this  appears  at  lead  no  improbable  account 
of  the  matter,  we  have  reafon  to  believe,  from  the 
ancient  manner  of  initialing  men  into  the  myfteries 
of  prophecying,  and  women  into  the  trade  of  deli- 
vering, oracles.     Men  were  of  old  initiated  into  the 


56  THE  HISTORY 

number  of  prophets  by  long  and  fevere  watchings, 
failings,  and  by  every  fpecies  of  mortification.  The 
Bramins  of  the  Eaft,  at  this  day  admit  none  to  their 
religious  myfteries,  till  they  have  prepared  them- 
felves  by  many  years  of  discipline,  abftinence,  and 
mortification  ;  and  even  the  Angekots,  or  priefts  of 
Greenland,  when  they  pretend  to  go  to  vifit  the 
land  of  fouls  for  the  purpoie  of  revealing  what  they 
are  doing  or  fuffering,  prepare  themfelves  by  faffing 
for  their  journey,  and  fet  out  on  it  by  dancing  and 
howling  themfelves  into  a  temportry  frenzy.  It 
were  eafy  to  give  more  inftances,  but  we  rather  pro- 
ceed to  the  effects  of  luch  a  conduct  on  the  body  and 
mind  j  effects  which  every  one  who  has  been  redu- 
ced to  weaknefs  by  fimilar  caufes,  will  more  readily 
conceive  from  his  own  feelings  than  from  any  de- 
fcription  ;  we  fhall,  therefore,  only  obferve  in  gene- 
ral, that  they  are  thofe  difeafes  of  the  vapourifh 
kind,  which  are  conftantly  accompanied  with  a  train 
of  the  molt  indigefted  and  tumultuary  ideas.  Wo- 
men were  likewife  initiated  into  the  myftery  of  deli- 
vering oracles,  by  methods  fimilar  to  thofe  we  have 
now  related,  and  when  they  actually  delivered  them, 
were  wrought  up  into  a  Hate  of  convulfive  enthuii- 
afm  ;  the  Pythonefs,  who  gave  the  anfwers  of  the 
Delphian  oracle,  the  mod  famous  of  all  antiquity, 
warned  herfelf  and  ate  fome  laurel  leaves,  a  plant 
well  known  for  its  intoxicating  powers,  before  Hie 
afcended  the  tripod.  Thus  prepared  and  lea  ted,  a 
prodigious  noife  was  made  in  the  hollow  body  of  the 
tripod  beneath  her,  which  added  to  the  effect  of  the 
laurel,  and  an  empty  itomach,  foon  threw  her  into 
convulfions  and  a  temporary  madnefs  ;  when,  from 
the  ambiguous  rhapfodies  that  lhe  uttered,  the  de- 
luded confultors  were  obliged  either  to  deduct  fome 
meaning,  or  depart  in  the  fame  ignorance  in  which 
they  came. 


OF  WOMEN.  57 

As  the  facred  writings  fo  frequently  mention 
witches,  wizzards,  and  dealers  with  familiar  fpirits, 
we  might  from  thence  imagine  that  fuch  ideas  exifted 
among  the  Jews  only ;  were  not  the  other  writings 
of  antiquity  every  where  as  full  of  them,  a  circum- 
ftance  we  cannot  wonder  at,  when  we  confider  that 
fuch  ideas  were  much  more  favoured  by  the  polythe- 
ifm  of  the  Gentiles,  than  by  the  belief  of  one  Su- 
preme Almighty  Being,  as  taught  among  the  Jews. 
Among  the  Gentiles  alfo  as  well  as  among  the  Jews, 
it  is  probable  there  were  female  enchantreiles,  though 
we  do  not  recollect  to  have  met  with  any  account  of 
them  till  we  come  to  the  Greeks,  who  exhibit  them 
every  where  in  their  fables  and  mythology,  as  beings 
poiTeiTed  of  the  moft  aftonifhing  and  fupernatural 
powers.  Medea  is  faid  to  have  taught  Jafon  to  tame 
the  brazen-footed  bulls,  and  the  dragons  which 
guarded  the  golden  fleece.  Hecate,  and  feveral 
others  are  laid  to  have  been  fo  ikilful  in  fpells  and 
incantations,  that  among  their  other  feats,  they 
could  turn  the  moft  obdurate  hearts  to  love,  as  we 
iliall  have  occafion  to  mention  afterward  in  our  hif- 
tory  of  courtfhip.  Circe,  we  are  told,  detained 
even  the  fage  UlyiTes  in  her  enchanted  ifland,  and 
transformed  his  failors  into  fwine.  Eefides  thefe, 
there  were  many  others  who,  like  the  witches  of  our 
modern  times,  could  bring  on  difeafes,  raife  tem- 
pers in  the  air,  and  ride  on  the  clouds  from  one 
country  to  another.  Nor  were  the  Romans  lefs  the 
dupes  of  this  pretended  art  than  the  Greeks;  the 
whole  of  their  hiftorians  and  poets  are  full  of  the  fol- 
lies and  abfurdities  to  which  it  reduced  them;  Horace 
frequently  mentions  a  Canidia,  who  was  reckoned 
a  moft  powerful  enchantrefs;  and  Virgil  makes  one 
of  his  fhepherds  declare,  that  fuch  was  the  power  of 
charms,  that  they  could  draw  down  the  moon  from 
the  iky.     But  the  Romans  were  not  the  only  people 


5 8  THE  HISTORY 

of  antiquity  who  carried  their  ideas  thus  far;  the 
Babylonians  boafled  that  ali  the  contingencies  of  fate 
were  in  their  hands,  and  that  they  were  able  to  avert 
every  evil,  and  procure  every  good  by  their  magi- 
cal ceremonies.  And  doctrines  of  a  nature  not  much 
diifimilar  appear  to  have  been  fpread  over  other 
countries  in  the  Eafl ;  for  about  Calcutta  they  for- 
merly coniulted  forcerers  concerning  the  deftiny  of 
their  children,  and  if  the  prediction  promiied  hap- 
pinefs  they  were  fpared  to  live,  but  if  the  contrary, 
they  were  put  to  death  as  foon  as  born.  The  Japa- 
nefe  at  this-  day  pay  the  mod  unlimited  credit  to  for- 
ceries,  incantations,  lucky  and  unlucky  days,  and 
publifh  every  year  the  almanac,  pointing  thern  out  to 
the  public,  left  upon  the  unlucky  ones  they  mould 
tranfacf  any  bufinefs,  which  they  imagine  in  that  cafe 
could  not  poiiibly  profper. 

Almoft  every  ignorant  people  are  the  dupes  of  fu- 
perftition,  which  in  nothing  ciifplays  itfelf  more 
than  in  fruitlefs  attempts  to  become  acquaint  with 
the  fecrets  of  futurity;  hence  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, and  perhaps  all  antiquity,  from  the  number 
of  oracles  every  where  reforted  to,  were  much  given 
to  divination;  but  the  northern  nations  (till  much 
exceeded  all  others,  and  carried  this  fpirit  to  the 
mod  unaccountable  lengths.  The  Scandinavians, 
Germans,  Gauls,  Britons,  &c.  were  of  all  people 
perhaps  the  mod  ignorant,  and  oral!,  the  greatell 
flaves  to  fuperilition ;  their  druids  and  druideifes  ex- 
ercifed  an  authority  over  them  which  even  the  moft 
abiolute  monarch  of  the  prefent  times  would  not  dare 
to  attempt,  but  not  to  thofe  only  did  they  yield  an 
implicit  obedience,  they  obeyed,  eileemed,  and  even 
venerated  every  female  who  pretended  to  deal  in 
charms  and  incantations,  and  the  dictates  of  fuch,  as 
they  were  fuppofed  to  come  from  the  inviiible  pow- 


OF  WOMEN. 


59 


ers,  were  more  regarded  than  the  laws  of  nature, 
of  humanity,  or  of  their  country.  The  life  of  their 
warriors  was  fuch  as  fee  u  red  them  a  flrmnefs  of 
nerves,  and  freedom  from  nervous  hypochondriac 
diforders;  their  women  being  more  fubjecT:  to  then 
by  nature,  and  by  their  manner  of  life,  were,  in  all 
their  fits,    conudered   as  infpired  by  iome  divinity, 

and  regarded  accordingly. Women  in  the  North 

have  almoil  folely  appropriated  to  themfelves  the 
trade  of  divination,  men  have  had  the  largell  fhare 
of  it  in  the  South  ;  the  reafon  is,  men  in  the  South 
are  by  the  climate  and  their  low  diet  of  rice  and 
fruit,  fubjecf  to  all  the  difeafes  of  women,  and  wo- 
men are  precluded  from  all  communication  with  the 
public. 

Among  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  North,  noth- 
ing was  held  in  fo  much  eftimation  as  poetry  and 
divination.  A  troop  of  poets,  called  Bards,  com- 
monly attended  on  the  great;  not  to  grace  their  train 
but  in  the  effufions  of  frantic  doggerel,  to  celebrate 
exploits,  and  praife  their  viclorie?.  Befides  thefe, 
there  was  generally  in  the  train  of  the  rich  and  pow- 
erful forne  venerable  propheteffes,  who  directed 
their  councils,  and  to  whom  they  paid  a  deference 
and  relpecl,  at  prefent  almoil  incredib'j;  as  w31 
appear  from  the  ftory  of  Thorbiorga,  a  Daniflb  efl- 
chantrel's,  reckoned  famous  for  her  knowledge  of  fu- 
turity. The  kingdom  of  Denmark,  being  much  dif- 
treiied  by  a  famine,  '  Earl  Thorchil,  who  had  the 
'  greateft  authority  in  that  country,  and  was  moft 
4  defirous  to  know  when  the  famine  and  ficknefs, 
'  which  then  raged,  would  come  to  an  end,  feflt 
6  m<  ■  ers  to  invite  Thorbiorga  to  his  houfe. — 
'  After  he  had  made  ail  the  preparations  which  were 
'  uiual  for  the  reception  of  Inch  an  honourable  gueft, 
'  in  particular,  a  feat  was  prepared  for  the  prophet- 


do  THE  HISTORY 

efs,  raifed  fome  fleps  above  the  other  feats,  and 
covered  with  a  cnfhion,  fluffed  with  hen-feathers : 
when  flic  arrived,  on  an  evening,  fhe  was  dreffed 
in  a  gown-  of  green  cloth,  buttoned  from  top  to 
bottom,  had  a  ftring  of  glafs  beads  about  her 
neck,  and  her  head  covered  with  the  fkin  of  a 
black  lamb,  lined  with  the  fkin  of  a  white  cat  ; 
her  fhoes  were  made  of  calf-fkin,  with  the  hair  on 
it,  tied  with  thongs,  and  faflened  with  brafs  but- 
tons ;  on  her  hands  flie  had  a  pair  of  gloves  of  a 
white  cat-lkin,^  with  the  fur  inward  ;  about  her 
waift,  fhe  wore  an  Hunlandic  girdle,  at  which  hung 
a  bag  containing  her  magical  inftruments ;  and  fhe 
fuoported  her  feeble  limbs,  by  leaning  on  a  ftaff, 
adorned  with  many  knobs  of  brafs.  As  foon  as 
fhe  entered  the  hall,  the  whole  company  rofe,  as 
it  became  them,  and  faluted  her  in  the  raoft  re- 
fpeclful  manner,  which  fhe  returned  as  fhe  thought 
proper.  Earl  Thorchil  then  advanced,  and  taking 
her  by  the  hand,  conducted  her  to  a  feat  prepared 
for  her ;  after  fome  time  fpent  in  converfation,  a 
table  was  fet  before  her  covered  with  many  diflies ; 
but  fhe  ate  only  a  pottage  of  goat's  milk,  and  of  a 
difh  which  confifted  of  the  hearts  of  various  ani- 
mals. When  the  table  was  removed,  Thorchil 
humbly  approached  the  prophctefs,  and  aiked  her, 
What  flie  thought  of  his  houfe,  and  of  his  family  ? 
And  when  flie  would  be  pleafed  to  tell  him  what 
they  defired  to  know  ?  To  this  flie  replied,  That 
fhe  would  tell  them  nothing  that  evening,  but 
would  faiisfy  them  fully  next  day.  Accordingly 
the  day  after,  when  flie  had  put  all  her  imple- 
ments of  divination  in  proper  order,  flie  command- 
ed a  maiden,  named  Godrcda,  to  fing  the  magical 
fong  called  Wardlokur ;  which  flie  did  with  fo 
clear  and  fweet  a  voice,  that  the  whole  company 
were  raviflicd  with  her  mufic,  and  none  fo  much 


OF  WOMEN.  6.1 

1  as  the  Prophetefs ;  who  cried  out,  Now  I  know 
'  many  things  concerning  this  famine  and  iicknefs, 
'  which  I  did  not  know  before.  This  famine  will 
6  be  of  fhort  continuance,  and  plenty  will  return 
'  next  feafon  ;  which  will  be  favourable,  and  the 
'  ficknefs  alfo  will  very  fhortly  fly  away.  After 
'  this  the  whole  company  approached  the  goddefs, 
c  one  by  one,  and  alked  her  what  ^queflions  they 
'  pleafed,  and  (lie  told  them  every  thing  they  defired 
6  to  know.'  A  variety  of  inftances  of  this  kind  might 
be  adduced,  to  fhew  the  veneration  in  which  deal- 
ers in  futurity  were  held  amongfl  the  ancient  north- 
erns. We  fhall  only  mention  another  :  '  There 
'  was  a  certain  old  woman,  named  Heida,  famous 
c  for  her  ikill  in  divination,  and  the  art  of  magic  ; 
'  who  frequented  public  entertainments,  predicted 
c  what  fort  of  weather  would  be  the  year  after,  and 
'  told  men  and  women  their  fortunes ;  flie  was  con- 
'  ftantly  attended  by  thirty  men-fervants,  and  wait- 
c  ed  upon  by  fifteen  maidens.'  Such  was  the  venera- 
tion of  our  anceftors  for  beings,  whom  their  defend- 
ants, in  a  few  centuries  afterwards,  began  to  exe- 
crate, to  condemn  to  the  flames,  to  whips,  to  tor- 
tures, horfe-ponds,  and  every  other  fpecies  of  cruel 
indignity.  Upon  a  change  fo  important  in  fentiment 
and  behaviour,  the  following  confiderations  will,  we 
hope,  throw  fome  light. 

Every  fyflem  of  theology,  from  the  beginning  of 
time,  had  been  filled  with  the  doctrine  of  a  commu- 
nication between  celeitial  and  terreftrial  beings. — 
The  Jewifh  religion  was  remarkably  full  of  it  :  the 
Jews,  therefore,  greatly  venerated  fuch  human  be- 
ings as  they  thought  were  thus  dignified  with  the 
correfpondence  of  fpiritual  eflences.  Thepolythe- 
ifm  of  the  Gentiles,  their  different  ranks  and  degrees 
of  gods,   and  the  few  degrees  of  diftin&ion  between 

VOL.  II.  I 


62  THE  HISTORY 

their  gods  and  their  heroes,  made  it  no  great  won- 
der, that  this  communication  among  them  was  ftill 
fuppofed  to  be  more  common.  Among  the  Jews  it 
would  feem,  that  fome  fmall  degree  of  inferiority 
was  affixed  to  thofe  who  were  fuppofed  to  draw 
their  knowledge  of  future  events  from  evil  ipirits  ; 
but  among  moil  of  the  neighbouring  nations,  they 
had  hardly  any  fuch  diilinclion  as  evil  and  good  fpi- 
rits  ;  they  had  indeed  Dii  Infcniales,  or  infernal 
gods  ;  but  they  made  fo  little  difference  between 
thcfe  infernal  gods  and  their  celeflial  ones,  that  they 
paid  to  each  of  them  almoft  an  equal  (hare  of  wor- 
ship and  adoration ;  hence  thofe  who  foretold  events 
by  a  communication  with  the  one.  kind,  were  hardly 
lefs  efteemed,  than  thofe  who  foretold  them  by  a 
communication  with  the  other.  But  when  the  Chrif- 
tian  religion  was  introduced,  which  taught  that  all 
future  events  were  only  known  to  God,  or  to  fuch 
only  of  his  creatures  as  he  chofe  to  difcover  them  to; 
and  that  in  all  others,  it  was  impious  to  endeavour 
to  find  out  what  he  had  concealed  :  fuch  as  ftill  pre- 
tended to  deal  in  them,  inftead  of  being  accounted 
falfe  importers,  as  they  ought  to  have  been,  were 
fuppofed  to  have  drawn  their  information  from  evil 
ipirits :  hence  the  trade  of  predicting,  which  before 
whs  thought  the  moil  honourable,  while  its  know- 
ledge was  derived  from  an  honourable  fource  ;  now, 
when  that  knowledge  came  from  a  difhonourable 
one,  likewife  became  not  only  difhonourable,  but 
criminal.  Every  one  who  pretended  to  that  trade, 
was  denominated  witch  or  wizzard  ;  and  againft  all 
fuch,  the  obfolete  jewiih  law,  which  fays,  Thou 
flialt  not  fuffer  a  witch  to  live,  was  revived  ;  and 
the  fame  profcilion,  which  we  have  before  feen  raif- 
ing  prophets  and  propheteffes  to  the  higheil  venera- 
tion and  dignity,  now  fubje&ed  them  to  the  flames. 


OF  WOMEN.  63 

From  the  twelfth  to  the  fixteeth  century,  almoft 
all  Europe  was  one  fcene  of  highly  ridiculous  opini- 
ons ;  to  maintain  which,  kings  led  forth  their  ar- 
mies, pioufly  to  cut  the  throats  of  their  neighbours ; 
and  priefts  condemned  to  flames  in  this  world,  and 
threatened  eternal  fire  in  the  world  to  come.  Many 
of  thofe  opinions  were,  however,  but  local ;  and 
many  funk  into  oblivion  with  the  authors,  who  firft 
broached  them  ;  but  the  notion  of  females  being 
addicted  to  witchcraft  had  taken  deep  root,  and 
fpread  itfelf  all  over  Europe.  It  had  been  gather- 
ing ftrength  from  the  days  of  Mofes  ;  and  it  fubfift- 
ed  till  the  enquiring  fpirit  of  philofophy,  demon  ft  ra- 
ted by  the  plained  experiments,  that  many  of  thofe 
things  which  had  always  been  fuppofed  the  effect  of 
fupernatural,  were  really  the  effect  of  natural  caufes. 
No  fex,  no  rank,  no  age,  was  exempted  from  the 
fufpicions  of,  and  punifhments  infhsfted  on  the  per- 
petrators of  this  fuppofed  crime  ;  but  old  women 
were,  of  all  other  beings,  the  moil  liable  to  be  fuf- 
pected  of  it.  Poets  had  delineated,  and  painters 
had  drawn  all  their  witches  as  old  women,  with 
ha  jgard  and  wrinkled  countenances,  withered  hands 
and  tottering  limbs  ;  thefe,  which  were  only  cha- 
racterise fymptoms  of  old  age,  had,  by  an  unhappy 
afTemblage  of  unconnected  ideas,  become  alfo  the 
characteriftic  fymptoms  of  witchcraft.  And  hence 
every  old  woman,  bowed  down  with  age  and  infir- 
mity, was  commonly  dubbed  with  the  appellation 
of  witch ;  and  when  any  event  happened  in  her 
neighbourhood;  for  which  the  ignorance  of  the  times 
was  not  able  to  account,  flie  was  immediately  fuf- 
pected  as  the  caufe ;  and  in  confequence  committed 
to  jail  by  an  ignorant  magistrate,  and  condemned  by 
as  ignorant  a  judge,  or  what,  perhaps  was  worie 
than  either,  made  the  fpcrt  of  a  ruffian  multitude, 
heated  by  enthuliafm,  and  led  on  by  folly  \  which 


64  THE  HISTORY 

a  few  centuries  ago  ran  to  fuch  a  pitch  of  extrava- 
gance, that  Livonia,  and  fome  other  parts  of  the 
North,  it  is  faid,  that  not  many  women  who  had  ar- 
rived at  old  age  were  fuffered  to  die  peaceably  in 
their  beds,  but  were  either  hurried  to  an  untimely 
execution,  or  fo  much  abufed  by  a  licentious  popu- 
lace, that  death  was  frequently  the  confequence. 

But  the  fufpicions  of  witchcraft  were  neither  alto- 
gether confined  to  age  nor  to  poverty  ;  the  bloom  of 
youth  and  beauty,  and  the  dignity  of  rank  could 
afford  no  fafety.  In  France,  England,  and  Ger- 
many, ladies  of  the  higheft  quality  were  condemned 
to  the  lfake  for  crimes  of  which  it  was  impoffible 
they  could  be  guilty ;  but  when  crimes  are  either 
highly  improbable  or  altogether  impofTible,  the  proof 
required  to  be  brought  againfl  thofe  who  are  fup- 
pofed  to  have  commited  them,  is  on  that  account 
generally  fuftained  as  valid,  though  much  lefs  clear 
than  in  other  cafes.  Thus  it  was  with  witchcraft, 
while  the  fixing  of  every  other  crime  required  fome 
degree  of  rational  and  confident  evidence,  this  was 
fixed  by  idle  and  ridiculous  tales,  or,  in  fliort,  by 
any  fhadow  of  evidence  whatever.  Such  being  the 
cafe,  flatefmen  often  availed  themfelves  of  witchcraft 
as  a  pretence  to  take  off  peribns  who  were  obnoxious 
to  them,  and  againfl  whom  no  other  crime  could  be 
proved:  this  was  the  pretence  made  ufeof  for  con- 
demning the  Maid  of  Orleans,  well  known  in  the 
hiftory  of  England  and  of  France;  who,  by  her 
perfonal  courage,  and  the  power  flie  affumed  over 
the  minds  of  a  fuperflitious  people,  by  perfuading 
them  that  Heaven  was  on  their  fide,  delivered  her 
country  from  the  mofl  formidable  invafion  which 
had  ever  threatened  its  fubverfion.  Such  was  the 
pretence  for  defiroying  the  Dutchefs  de  Conchini; 
who,  being  afked  by  her  judges,  What  methods  {he 


OF  WOMEN.  6$ 

had  pra&ifed  to  fafcinate  the  Queen  of  France  ? 
boldly  replied,  '  Only  by  that  afcendency  which 
4  great  minds  have  over  little  ones.'  Nothing  was 
too  abfurd  in  thefe  times  to  gain  credit ;  and  proofs 
only  became  the  more  valid  as  they  were  the  more 
ridiculous.  Under  Manuel  Comnenus,  one  of  the 
Greek  emperors  at  Conflantinople,  an  officer  of 
high  rank  was  condemned  for  parc~tifmg  fecrets  that 
rendered  men  invifible.  And  another  had  like  to 
have  fhared  the  fame  fate,  becaufe  he  was  caught- 
reading  a  book  of  Solomon's,  the  bare  perufal  of 
which,  they  faid,  was  fufficient  to  conjure  up  whole 
legions  of  devils.  The  Dutchefs  of  Gloucefter,  with 
Mary  Gurdemain,  and  a  prieft,  were  accufed  of 
having  made  a  figure  of  Henry  VI.  in  wax,  and 
roafted  it  before  the  fire ;  though  the  action  itfelf 
was  ridiculous,  and  though  there  was  no  proof  of  it 
nor  poffibility  of  the  confequences  which  they  imagi-. 
ned  were  to  arife  from  it,  they  were  all  three  found 
guilty;  the  priefl  was  hanged,  Gurdemain  was 
burnt  in  Smithfield,  and  the  Dutchefs  condemned  to 
penance  and  perpetual  jmprifonment.  The  Duke  of 
Gloucefter,  who  was  regent  to  Edward  V.  (hewed 
an  emaciated  arm  in  the  council-chamber;  and  his 
really  having  an  arm  withered,  was  deemed  a  fuffi- 
cient proof,  not  only  that  it  was  done  by  forcery,  but 
that  the  forcerers  were  the  wife  of  his  brother,  and 
Jane  Shore.  To  what  a  low  ebb  was  human  rea- 
fon  reduced,  when  from  fuch  premifes  it  could  draw 
fuch  conclulions  ? 

Such  was  the  condition  of  women  in  Europe  for 
feveral  centuries,  conftantly  liable  to  be  accufed  of 
and  puniihed  for,  crimes  which  had  no  exiftence; 
till  philofophy  at  lafc  came  to  refcue  them  from  their 
danger,  by  diffipating  the  gloom  of  ignorance  which 
had  for  ages  enveloped  the  human  mind ;  and  teach* 


66  THE  HISTORY 

ing  men  to  prefer  reafon  to  opinion,  however  the 
latter  might  be  fanctified  by  time,  or  ftrengthened 
by  the  celebrated  names  from  which  it  had  origina- 
ted. But  the  ftruggle  between  reafon  and  opinion 
was  not  the  ftruggle  of  a  day  or  a  year,  it  lafted  for 
feveral  ages,  and  is  not  at  this  hour  completely  deci- 
ded; as  there  are  fome  people  ltil  to  be  found,  who 
have  more  faith  in  in  ancient  fayings  and  opinions, 
than  in  the  fulled  demonstration  of  which  reafon  is 
capable. 

What  reafon  and  philofophy  had  atchieved  in  Eu- 
rope, was  accomplished  in  America  by  fhame  and 
remorfe.  In  the  fifteenth  and  fixteenth  centuries, 
fome  of  the  mod  gloomy  bigots  of  feveral  nations, 
and  particularly  of  England,  to  avoid  the  periecutions 
to  which  their  own  tenets,  and  the  intolerant  jpirit 
of  the  times  fubjec'r.ed  them,  had  emigrated  to  the 
inhofpitable  deferts  of  America ;  thefe  carried  along 
with  them  into  that  New  World,  the  fame  ideas  of 
forcery  which  they  had  imbibed  in  Europe,  and  the 
fame  intolerant  fpirit  from  which  they  had  fled. 
Though  they  had  accounted  it  exceedingly  hard, 
that  in  Europe  they  mould  have  been  perfecuted 
for  religious  opinions,  yet  they  foon  impofed  the 
fame  hardlhips  upon  others,  from  which  they  them- 
felves  had  fled  with  fo  much  horror  and  reluctance; 
and  had  but  juft  begun  to  breath  from  a  cruel  perfe- 
ction againil  the  Quakers  and  Anabaptilts,  when 
a  new  luppofitious  danger  alarmed  their  fears,  and 
fet  the  whole  country  of  New  England  in  a  ferment. 
A  mini  iter  in  Salem  had  two  daughters,  one  of 
whom  falling  into  a  hyfteric  diforder,  attended  with 
convnlfions,  the  father  concluded  flic  was  bewitched. 
An  Indian  maid-fervant  was  fufpedted  of  the  crime ; 
and  fo  often  beat  and  otherwise  cruelly  treated  by 
her  wrong-headed  mailer,  that  flie  at  lall  confeiTed. 


OF  WOMEN.  67 

herfelf  guilty,  and  was  committed  to  prifon  ;  from 
whence,  after  a  long  confinement,  fhe  was  at  laM 
releafed  to  be  fold  for  a  Have. 

The  idea,  however,  was  now  darted  ;  nor  was 
it  fo  eafy  a  matter  to  lay  it  again  to  reft.  Every 
fimilar  complaint  was  fuppofed  to  proceed  from  a 
fimilar  caufe,  and  the  affecled  naturally  call  their 
eyes  upon  fuch  as  either  were  in  reality,  or  were 
fuppofed  to  be  their  enemies  ;  and  thofe  they  accuf- 
ed  as  the  caufes  of  the  evils  they  fullered.  Every 
evil  that  befel  the  human  body,  was  in  a  little  time 
afTerted  to  be  the  effecl  of  witchcraft ;  and  every 
enemy  to  the  afflicted  was  accufed,  and  every  accu- 
fation  certainly  proved.  In  default  of  rational  proof, 
an  evidence  called  by  them  fpeclral,  and  never  be- 
fore heard  of,  was  admitted  ;  on  the  validity  of 
which,  many  were  condemned  to  fufFer  death.  The 
mod  common  and  innocent  actions,  were  now  con- 
ftrued  to  be  magical  ceremonies,  and  every  one  filled 
with  horror,  and  diffident  of  his  neighbours,  was 
forward  to  accufe  all  around  him  :  neither  age,  fex, 
nor  charailer,  afforded  the  leait  protection.  Wo- 
men were  [tripped  in  the  moil  fhameful  manner  to 
fearch  for  magical  teats.  Scorbutic  or  other  (tains 
on  the  fkin,  were  called  the  devil's  pinches;  and 
thefe  pinches  afforded  the  moil  undeniable  evidence 
againft  thofe  upon  whom  they  were  difcovered.  But 
if  any  tiling  was  wanting  in  evidence,  it  was  amply 
fupplied  by  the  confeffion  extorted  by  tortures,  of 
fo  cruel  a  nature,  ana  fo  long  continuance,  that  they 
forced  the  unhappy  fufferers  to  acknowledge  them- 
felves  guilty  of  whatever  their  tormentors  chofe  to 
lay  to  their  charge.  Women  owned  various  and 
ridiculous  correipeniencies  with  infernal  fpirits,  and 
even  that  fuch  had  frequently  cohabited  with  thenu 
Nor  were  the  wretches  under  torture  more  prelfed 


68  THE  HISTORY 

to  difcover  their  own  guilt  than  that  of  others ; 
when  it  frequently  happened  that,  unable  to  give 
any  account  of  real  criminals,  they  were  forced  by 
torture  to  name  people  at  random,  who  being  imme- 
diately taken  up,  were  treated  in  the  fame  manner, 
and  obliged,  in  their  turn,  to  name  others,  not 
more  guilty  than  themfelves. 

The  phrenzy  was  now  become  univerfal,  the  near- 
eft  ties  of  blood,  and  the  moil  facred  friendfhips, 
were  no  more  regarded,  the  gibbets  every  where 
exhibited  to  the  people  their  friends  and  their  neigh- 
bours hanging  as  malefactors,  the  cities  were  filled 
with  terror  and  amazement,  and  the  prifons  fo 
crouded  that  executions  were  obliged  to  be  made 
every  day,  in  order  to  make  room  for  more  of  the 
fuppofed  criminals.  Magillrates  who  refuted  to  com- 
mit to  jail,  and  juries  which  brought  in  a  verdict 
for  acquittance,  were  on  that  account  fufpected  and 
accufed  ;  accufations  were  alfo  at  laft  brought  again  ft 
the  judges  themfelves,  and  the  torrent  had  reached 
even  to  the  palace  of  the  governor,  when  a  general 
paufe  enfued ;  confcious  of  his  dangerous  fituation, 
every  man  trembled  on  looking  around  him,  and 
every  man  refolved  to  ceafe  from  profecuting  his 
neighbour,  as  the  only  method  of  procuring  his  own 
fafety.  Shame  and  remorfe  arofe  from  reflection, 
reafon  refumed  the  rein,  and  the  ftorm  that  had 
threatened  a  total  depopulation  of  the  country  fub- 
fided  at  once  into  peace.  In  this  paroxyfm  expired 
a  fpirit  which  for  time  immemorial  had  been  a  fcourge 
to  the  human  race,  and  particularly  to  that  fair  part 
of  it  whofe  hiflory  we  are  now  delineating. 

Another  opinion  nearly  related  to  that  which  we 
have  now  been  difcuillng,  and  fcarcely,  perhaps, 
lefs    ancient,   is    the    pofTeflion  by    devils.     This 


OF  WOMEN.  6y 

through  a  long  fucceffion  of  ages  had  been  consi- 
dered as  common  to  both  fexes,  and  confequently 
not  falling  properly  within  our  plan.  But  as  the 
priefts  of  the  Romifh  church  have  adopted,  and  iiill 
maintain  it  now,  when  it  is  nearly  exploded  by  • 
every  other  fet  of  men,  and  as  they  almoft  entirely 
confine  it  to  women,  we  {hall  give  a  fhort  account 
of  it. 

So  delicate  is  the  fenfibility,  or  rather  irritability, 
of  the  female  conftitution,  that  they  are  thereby 
fubje&ed  to  feveral  difeafes,  whofe  fymptoms  and 
appearances  are  more  extraordinary  than  thofe  with 
which  the  men  are  commonly  afflicted.  Such,  it  is 
highly  probable,  were  thofe  difeafes  which  in  the 
New  Teflament  are  called  the  pofTefTion  of  devils, 
and  from  perfons  thus  affected,  when  they  were 
healed  by  our  Saviour,  devils  were  faid  to  be  cad 
out. 

Every  one  who  has  had  an  opportunity  of  feeing 
difeafes  of  the  fpafmodic  kind,  mull  have  been  fenfi- 
ble  that  perfons  fo  affected,  frequently  exerted  a 
force  which  at  other  times  they  were  totally  incapa- 
ble of.  Hence,  in  ages  of  ignorance  and  fuperlH- 
tion,  it  is  no  great  wonder  that  fuch  exertions,  and 
fuch  fymptoms  of  torture  as  accompanied  them,  were 
attributed  to  the  agency  or  poifeflion  of  evil  fpirits. 
But  medical  phiioiophers,  beginning  to  throw  afide 
every  prejudice,  and  attach  themfelves  only  to 
truth,  at  fall  difcovered,  that  fymptoms  which  had 
formerly  been  fuppofed  to  airife  from  the  agency  of 
malevolent  fpirits  which  had  entered  into  the  human 
body,  in  reality  arofe  from  natural  caufes  ;  and  this 
doctrine,  as  being  more  confonant  to  reafon,  as  well 
as  confirmed  by  obfervation,  was  at  laft  pretty  ge- 
nerally received.     But  as  every  improvement  of  the 

VOL.  II.  K 


7o  THE  HISTORY 

human  ahderftaoding  is  attended  with  inconveniency 
to  inch  as  fatten  upon  human  ignorance,  the  priefts 
of  the  Romiili  religion,  arrogating  to  themfelves  the 
fame  pow  ers  as  the  author  of  Chriftianity  ;  had 
always  pretended  to  caft  out  devils ;  and  finding  that 
if  there  were  no  devils  for  them  to  call  out,  their 
revenue  and  reputation  would  not  only  be  diminish- 
ed, but  an  inftrument  of  managing  the  people  and 
fupporting  their  own  power,  would  alio  be  wrclled 
out  of  their  hands,  ftrongJy  oppofed  this  new  doc- 
trine as  impious  and  difcordant  to  the  fcripture  ; 
and  to  carry  on  the  farce  with  the  greater  probabi- 
lity, they  carefully  fought  out  fiich  women  as  were 
endowed  with  a  cunning,  fuperior  to  the  reft  of 
their  fex,  and  bribed  them  to  declare  themfelves 
poffeffed,  that  they  might  have  the  credit  of  difpof- 
Ifffing  them,  and  thereby  (hewing  to  the  world,  that 
it  had  been  milled  by  a  belief  of  natural  caufes,  and 
that  they  had  actually  derived  from  their  great  mat- 
ter, a  power  over  the  legions  of  darknefs.  That 
their  fcheme  might  be  the  more  complete,  they  la- 
boured to  inftil  a  notion  into  mankind,  that  as  evil 
fpirits  were  no  doubt  fo  intelligent  as  to  underfiand 
every  language,  thofe  poiTefTed  by  them  were  alfo 
endowed  with  the  fame  gift.  Women,  therefore, 
who  feigned  this  pofTefiion,  were,  by  the  priefts 
appointed  lo  exorciie  them,  taught  by  rote,  anfwers 
fro  fuch  queilions  in  feveral  languages,  as  they  fhould 
a/k  them.  The  multitude,  when  they  thus  obferveel 
women  whom  they  knew  to  be  without  education 
fpeaking  a  variety  of  languages,  were  convinced  that 
it  was  really  the  devil  who  fpoke  out  of  them. 

Though  the  populace  were  deluded  by  this  trick, 
yet  the  fenfible  part  of  mankind  Mill  filently  dUpiied 
the  authors  of  furl:  an  inapofition  on  human  credulity; 
but  as  in  Catholic  countries  nothing  is  more  dange- 


OF  WOMEN.  71 

rous  than  contradicting  or  finding  fault  with  the 
church,  it  was  long  before  any  one  had  the  Jiardi- 
nefs  openly  to  attack  this  palpable  abferclity ;  inch  ah 
attack  was,  however,  at  laft  fuccefs fully  made  by 
a  phyfician-in  Sardinia.  "  A  young  girl  in  Turin 
being  troubled  with  hyiteric  fits,  which  ihrew  her 
body  into  fuch  pofhires  and  agitations  as  teemed 
fupernaiural,  the  Jefoits,  who  are  always  attentive 
to  every  thing  that  has  a  tendency  to  promote  them- 
felves,  or  turn  to  their  advantage^  fobfi  flocked  about 
her,  attended  by  a  phyfician  in  their  intereil,  who 
alleged  that  flie  was  actually  potTeffed,  and  eonfe- 
quently  not  to  be  cured  by  medicine.  Accordingly 
the  exorcifts  were  aiTenibled,  and  the  girl  pte\  ibufly 
inflructed  for  the  better  carrying  on  the  impoilnre; 
the  affair  made  a  great  noife,  people  came  from  all 
parts,  and  the  old  tales  of  witchcraft  and  fdrceries 
were  revived.  Dr.  R.  nobly  oppoled  thefe  proeed- 
dings,  and  declared  the  girl's  cafe  was  entire! v  ow- 
ing to  natural  caufes,  fupporting  his  opinion  by  rea- 
fons  and  inftances  which  he  had  heard  of  in  Holland 
and  England,  where  he  had  refided  many  yeat'sJ 
The  Jefuits  farioufly  attacked  him  as  an  infidel, 
whom  they  would  infallibly  confute  from  the  tefti- 
mony  of  his  own  fences.  The  Doctor  confented  to 
attend  them,  and  while  they  were  performing  their 
prayers  and  exorcifms  appeared  devout;  when  they 
had  finihhed,  he  defired  the  two  ecclcfiaftks  who  were 
entrulted  with  themanagemement  of  the  aifair,  that 
they  would  order  their  patient  to  anfwer  him  a  few 
queftions,  which  they  granted,  on  condition  he 
afked  nothing  unlawful,  and  commanded  the  devil 
to  anfwer.  Accordingly  the  Doctor  faid  to  her  in 
Englifh,  What  is  my  name  ?  This  being  a  language 
to  which  both  the  girl  and  the  Jefuits  were  ftrangiers 
ihe  anfwered  in  plain  Piedmontefe,  that  ihe  did  wst 
underfland  the  queftion;  but  according  to  the  recti- 


72  THE  HISTORY 

vcd  opinion,  as  well  as  the  ritual,  the  knowledge  of 
all  languages,  the  fupernatural  ftrength  of  body, 
and  foretelling  things  to  come,  are  the  proper  crite- 
ria of  a  real  fatanical  pofTeflion,  the  devil  therefore 
ought  to  underfland  all  languages,  and  it  is  eafily 
conjectured  that  this  ignorance  did  not  a  little  mor- 
tify the  Jefuits;  they,  however,  did  all  in  their  pow- 
er to  elude  the  confequence,  by  pretending  that  the 
Doctor  had  put  an  unlawful  queftion  to  the  evil  fpi- 
rit,  and  they  had  forbid  him  to  anfwer  any  of  that 
kind ;  but  he  foon  confuted  their  allegations  by  ex- 
plaining the  queftion  he  had  aiked,  and  immediately 
repeated  it  in  Piedmontefe;  but  the  pofTefTed,  to 
whom  he  was  unknown,  could  fay  as  little  to  this  as  be- 
fore, when  the  fame  queftion  was  propofed  inEngliih. 
The  Doctor  highly  pleafed  at  his  fuccefs,  ran  to 
court  in  triumph,  where  he  ridiculed  the  ignorance 
of  their  devil ;  the  king  and  the  prince  of  Piedmont 
joined  in  the  laugh,  and  the  latter  for  the  more  effec- 
tually filencing  this  Jefuitical  devil,  fetched  a  Cbi- 
nefe  pfalter  from  his  clofet,  fent  him  by  the  cardi- 
nal Tournon  as  a  curiofity  ;  this  pfalter  has,  indeed, 
a  Latin  tranflation,  but  the  Chinefe  leaves  could  be 
taken  out  feparately  from  thofe  containing  the  tranf- 
lation ;  with  one  of  thele  leaves  .Dr.  R.  was  again 
difpatched  to  aik  the  devil  the  contents,  and  in  what 
language  it  was  written.  The  fathers,  who  did  not 
defire  any  more  of  Dr.  R.'s  viiits,  were  for  keeping- 
out  of  his  way,  and  the  devil  threatened  if  he  came 
again,  to  expofe  the  minuted  tranfactions  of  his  life. 
A  Theatine,  who  was  an  accomplice  of  the  Jefuits, 
acquainted  the  Doctor's  filter  with  this  circumltance  ; 
and  fhe,  from  an  implicit  veneration  for  the  clergy, 
was  very  urgent  with  her  brother  not  to  have  any 
further  concern  with  this  devil,  but  to  no  purpofe. 
Th€  Doctor,  however,  had  no  great  opinion  of  the 
devil's  omnifcience,  and  told  the  king,  that  if  the 


OF  WOMEN.  73 

devil  knew  all  things  prefent  or  abfent,  there  would 
be  no  neceility  for  princes  being  at  fuch  immenfe 
expences  in  envoys,  agents,  and  fpies;  they  need 
only  maintain  a  polTeffed  perfon  or  two,  from  whom 
they  might  conilantly  have  immediate  intelligence  of 
every  tranfaclion.  After  this  remark,  the  Doctor 
haflened  to  the  houie  of  the  poiTelTed,  where  he 
found  the  Jefuits  with  the  girl.  On  entering  the 
room,  after  the  ufual  compliments,  he  acquainted 
them,  that  having  been  informed  that  a  detail  was 
to  be  given  of  every  tranfaction  of  his  life,  he  was 
defirous  of  hearing  it  himfelf ;  and  began  to  defy 
and  challenge  the  devil  to  begin  his  flory ;  adding, 
that  if  he  did  not,  he  would  brand  him  and  all  who 
favoured  his  pretended  poiTeilion,  as  knaves  and 
fools.  This  refolute  fpeech  thunder-ilruck  both  the 
patient  and  the  Jefuits  ;  but  the  latter  pretending 
to  (hew  the  Doctor  the  nearefl  way  out  of  the  houie, 
he  foon  filenced  them,  by  producing  the  commiilion  ; 
and  infilled,  in  the  name  of  the  prince,  that  the 
poiTeiTed  ihould  declare  what  was  written  on  the 
leaf  he  exhibited,  and  what  language  it  was  written 
in  ?  The  two  Jefuits,  who  were,  doubtlefs,  not 
the  mod  artful  of  their  order,  pretended,  that  the 
characters  might  be  diabolical,  and  therefore  refufed 
to  anfwer  the  queftions.  D.  R.  anfwered,  that  it 
did  not  become  them  to  violate  the  refpect  due  to 
their  prince  by  fuch  a  fcandalous  fufpicion ;  and  infill- 
ed, in  the  name  of  the  king  and  prince,  that  they 
ihould  no  longer  amufe  him  with  fuch  weak  fubtcr- 
fuges.  The  two  Jefuits,  after  whimpering  to  them- 
felves,  anfwered,  That  an  affair  of  this  kind  mufl  be 
introduced  by  prayer,  and  a  long  feries  of  devotion; 
wherefore  it  was  neceffary  to  defer  it  to  a  more  con- 
venient opportunity.  The  Doclor  replied,  There 
was  now  time  fufficient  for  the  purpofe,  and  that  he 
would  pray  with  them.     So  that  they  were  at  lafl, 


74  .  THE  HISTORY 

notwithftanding  their  evaiions,  obliged  to  begin  their 
ceremonies.  During  the  exorcifm,  the  girl  threw 
her  body  into  ftrange  contortions,  and  hideous  looks 
which  the  Jeiiiits  infilled  upon  were  fupernatural  j 
but  the  Doctor  promifmg  to  mimic  her  actions,  in 
a  manner  dill  more  horrible,  orders  were  given 
her  to  anfwer  truly  to  all  the  various  interrogatories. 
Accordingly,  the  leaf  was  laid  before  her,  with  the 
above  mentioned  queftions  :  upon  this  lhe  (creamed 
in  a  terrible  manner,  dcliring  it  might  be  taken 
away,  for  (lie  could  not  bear  it.  At  latf ,  after  the 
moil  preiTmg  arguments,  (he  faid  it  was  Hebrew  ; 
and  that  it  was  a  blafphemous  writing  againft  the 
Holy  Trinity.  This  was  fufEcient  for  the  Doctor  ; 
who,  after  {hewing  them  plainly  how  ignorant  their 
devil  was,  returned  to  court  to  give  an  account  of 
his  proceedings.  The  two  Jefuits  were  ban  i  (lied  ; 
the  two  phyficians  recanted  in  public  ;  and  the  pa- 
rents and  relations  were  enjoined,  on  pain  of  being 
fent  to  the  gallies,  never  to  mention  this  affair  as  a 
diabolical  pofTeihon  ;  with  regard  to  the  girl,  (lie 
was  foon  cured  by  proper  medicines.  Thus  ended 
this  impofture  ;  and  with  it  all  notions  of  iorceries, 
witchcrafts,  and  fatanical  pofTeffions,  with  which 
the  minds  of  the  people  were  infected." 

As  this  triumph  over  prieftcraft  was,  however, 
only  local ;  and  as  the  multitude  are  (till  prone  to 
believe  what  they  do  not  underftand  ;  the  clergy, 
in  fome  places,  ftill  continue  to  propagate  the  doc- 
trine of  evil  fpirits  entering  into  female  bodies,  and 
keeping  poffeffron  of  them  till  properly  exorciled  by 
the  church  ;  an  opinion,  long  fmcc,  totally  eradi- 
cated in  Proteftant  countries,  and  only  laughed  at  in 
fecret  by  the  fenfnble  of  the  Romifli  faith. 


OF  WOMEN,  75 

Before  we  take  our  leave  of  this  fubje£r,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  ohferve,  that  the  notions  of 
witchcraft,  and  of  poiTeffion,  have  not  only  been 
almoft  nniverfal  among  mankind,  but  have  had  al- 
mofl  the  fame  ideas  every  where  annexed  to  them. 
In  Hindodan,  an  old  woman,  who  had  taken  upon 
her  the  name  and  character  of  a  witch,  raifed  a  re- 
bellion againit.  her  fovereign  ;  and  to  draw  the  mul- 
titude to  her  ifandard,  fhe  circulated  a  report, 
which  was  eagerly  credited,  That  on  a  certain  day 
of  the  moon,  (lie  ufed  to  cook,  in  the  fkuil  of  an 
enemy,  a  mefs,  compoied  of  owls,  bats,  fnakes, 
lizards,  human  flefh,  and  other  horrid  ingredients, 
which  (lie  distributed  to  her  followers ;  and  which, 
it  was  believed  by  the  rabble,  had  a  power  not 
only  of  rendering  them  void  of  fear,  but  alfo  of 
making  them  rnvifibl.e  in  the  day  of  battle,  and 
transfbilng  terror  into  their  enemies.  Would  not 
one  fuppofe  (he  had  read  the  hiilories'of  Greece  and 
Rome,  and  the  plays  of  S'rfakefpear  ?  Voyages  and 
travels  prefent  us  with  leveral  hiiiories  of  uncommon 
difeafes  among  lavage;;,  whole  appearances  they  at- 
tributed to  the  agency  of  evil  fpirits ;  but  from  what 
fource  thev  derivedtheie  ideas,  would  be  foreign  to 
our  purpoie  to  endeavour  io  determine. 

Befides  the  opinions  which  have  been  already 
mentioned,  it  has  been  alleged  again!!  women,'  that 
they  are  cither  incapable  of  attending  to,  cr  at  lead 
deaf  to  reafon  and  conviction.  .This,  however,  we 
venture  to  afflrtn,  is  an  error  of  partiality,  or  inat- 
tention ;  for  the  generality  of  women  can  reafon  in 
a  cool  and  candid  manner  on  any  fab  jeer,  where 
none  of  their  imerciis  or  pafhons  are  concerned  ; 
but  fuch  appears  to  be  the  acuteflefs  of  the  female 
feelings,  that  wherever  pafiion  is  oppofed  to  reafon, 
it  operates  lb  ftrongiy,  that  every  reafoning  power 


76  THE  HISTORY 

and  faculty  is,  for  a  time,  totally  fufpended :  the 
fame  thing,  in  a  lefTer  degree,  happens  to  men  ;  and 
the  only  difference  between  the  fexes,  in  this  par- 
ticular, arifes  from  the  different  degrees  of  feeling 
and  fenfibility. 

Women  have  likewife  been  charged  by  the  men 
with  inconftancy  and  a  love  of  change.  However 
juftly  this  may  characterife  the  fex  in  their  purfuit  of 
the  fafhions  and  follies  of  the  times,  we  are  of  opi- 
nion, that  in  their  attachments  to  the  men,  it  is  falfe. 
The  fair  fex  are,  in  general,  formed  for  love  ;  and 
feem  impelled  by  nature,  to  fix  that  paffion  on  fome 
particular  object;  as  a  lover,  hufband,  or  children; 
and  for  want  of  thefe,  on  fome  darling  animal :  and 
this  attachment,  inftead  of  being  changeable,  com- 
monly gains  ftrength  by  time  and  poffeflion.  So 
ftrong  is  this  peculiarity  of  female  nature,  that  many 
inftances  have  been  known,  where  nuns,  for  want 
of  any  other  object,  have  attached  themfelves  to  a 
particular  filler,  with  a  paffion  little  inferior  to  love ; 
and  hiftory  affords  many  inftances  of  women,  who, 
in  fpite  of  reafon,  reflexion  and  revenge,  have  been 
inviolably  attached  to  the  perfon  of  their  firft  ravifher, 
though  they  hated,  and  had  been  ruined  by  his 
conduct. 

Among  all  the  fignatures  of  female  inferiority,  few 
have  been  more  infilled  on,  than  their  want  of  that 
courage  and  refolution  lb  confpicuous  in  the  men. 
We  have  already  given  it  as  our  opinion,  that  this  is 
no  defect  in  their  character ;  as  the  Author  of  nature 
has,  for  the  molt  part,  placed  them  in  circumftances 
which  do  not  demand  thcfe  qualities;  and  when  he 
has  placed  them  other  wife,  he  has  not  withheld 
them. 


OF  WOMEN.  77 

Such  are  the  circumfhmces  of  the  generality  of 
women  in  favagelife,  where  the  countries  are  thinly 
inhabited,  and  commonly  infefted  with  wild  beads; 
and  the  men,  for  days  and  weeks  together,  abroad 
on  their  hunting  excurfions;  in  which  intervals  the 
women,  liable  to  be  attacked  by  the  beads  of  prey, 
and  by  their  enemies,  would  be  in  a  miferable  fixa- 
tion, were  they  the  fame  weak  and  timid  animals 
they  are  in  polifhed  fociety. 

Among  the  Efquimaux,  and  feveral  other  fav'age 
people,  the  women  go  out  to  hunt  and  fjfh  along 
with  the  men.  In  thefe  excurfions,  it  is  neceiTary  for 
them  not  only  to  have  courage  to  attack  whatever 
comes  in  their  way,  but  to  encounter  the  dorms  of  a 
tempeftuous  climate,  and  endure  the  harddiips  of  fa- 
mine, and  every  other  evil,  incident  to  fuch  a  mode 
of  life,  in  fo  inhofpitable  a  country.  In  fotne  places, 
where  the  woods  aiTord  little  game  for  the  fubfiftence 
of  the  natives,  and  they  are  confequentiy  obliged  to 
procure  it  from  the  ftormy  feas  which  furround  them, 
women  hardly  fhow  lefs  courage,  or  lefs  dexterity, 
in  encountering  the  waves,  than  the  men.  In  Green- 
land, they  will  put  off  to  fea  in  a  veflel;  and  in  a 
dorm,  which  would  make  the  mod  hardy  Europe- 
an tremble.  In  many  of  the  iilands  of  the  South 
Sea,  they  will  plunge  into  the  waves,  and  Swim 
through  a  furf,  which  no  European  dare  attempt. 
In  Himia,  one  of  the  Greek  iilands,  young  grris, 
before  they  be  permitted  to  marry,  are  obliged  to  fiih 
up  a  certain  quantity  of  pearls,  and  dive  for  them 
at  a  certain  depth.  Many  of  the  odier  pearl-fim- 
eries  are  carried  on  by  women,  who*,  befides  the 
danger  of  diving,  are  expofed  to  attacks  of  the  vo- 
racious (hark,  and  other  ravenous  fea-animals,  who 
frequently  watch  to  devour  them. 

VOL.  II.  L 


78  THE  HISTORY 

Should  it  be  objected  here,  that  this  kind  of  cou- 
rage is  only  mechanical  or  cuffomary,  we  would  afk 
fuch  objectors,  Whether  alraoil  all  cour?ge  is  not 
of  the  fame  nature  ?  Take  the  moll  undaunted  mor- 
tal out  of  the  path  which  he  has  conftantly  trod,  and 
he  will  not  ihew  the  fame  refolution.  A  failor,  who 
unconcernedly  fleers  his  bark  through  the  mofl  tre- 
menduous  waves,  would  be  terrified  at  following  a 
pack  of  hounds  over  hedge  and  ditch  upon  a  fpirited 
horfe,  which  ths  well-accuftomed  jockey  would 
mount  with  pleafure,  and  ride  with  eafe.  A  foldier, 
who  is  daily  accuftomed  to  face  death,  when  armed 
with  all  the  horrors  of  gun- powder  and  fteel,  would 
fhrink  back  with  reluctance  from  the  trade  of  gather- 
ing eider  down  as  practifed  by  the  fimple  peafants  of 
Norway,  who,  for  this  purpofe,  let  themfelves 
down  the  mofl  dreadful  precipices  by  the  means  of  a 
rope.  A  thoufand  other  inffances  might  be  addu- 
ced to  prove  this  truth;  but  as  many  of  them  mufl 
have  fallen  under  the  obfervation  of  every  one,  we 
fhall  not  enlarge  upon  them. 

That  favage  women  are  more  generally  endowed 
with  courage  than  thofe  in  civil  life,  appears  from 
what  we  have  now  mentioned,  as  well  as  from  the 
whole  hiflory  of  mankind;  yet  it  does  not  from 
thence  follow,  that  thofe  in  civil  life  are  lefs  confpi- 
cuous  for  it,  when  it  is  required  by  the  circumflances 
in  which  they  are  placed.  And  though  it  is  not  our 
intention  to  give  a  minute  hiftory  of  every  female, 
who,  throwing  afide  the  foftnefs  of  the  fex,  has  fig- 
Dalized  herfelf  in  fcenes  of  devaftation  and  fields  of 
blood,  we  think  it  incumbent  on  us  to  give  a  few 
inffances,  to  fliew  how  far  the  fex  have  been  enabled 
to  exert  courage  when  it  became  neceifary. 


O  F  WO  MEN.  79 

In  ancient  and  modern  hiflory,  we  are  frequently 
prefented  with  accounts  of  women,  who,  preferring 
death  to  flavery  or  proftitution,  facriiiced  their 
lives  with  the  mod  undaunted  courage  to  avoid  them. 
Apollodorus  tells  us,  that  Herculus  having  taken  the 
city  of  Troy,  prior  to  the  famous  iiege  of  it  celebra- 
ted by  Homer,  carried  away  captive  the  daughters 
of  Laomedon  then  king.  One  of  thefe,  named  Eu- 
thira,  being  left  with  feveral  other  Trojan  captives  on 
board  the  Grecian  fleet,  while  the  failors  went  on 
fhore  to  take  in  frefh  proviiions,  had  the  refolution 
to  propofe,  and  the  power  to  perfuade  her  compa- 
nions, to  fet'the  fhips  on  fire,  and  to  perifh  them-- 
felves  amid  the  devouring  flames.  The  women  of 
Phoenicia  met  together  before  an  engagement  which 
was  to  decide  the  fate  of  their  city,  and  having  agreed 
to  bury  themfelves  in  the  flames,  if  their  huibands 
and  relations  were  defeated,  in  the  enthuliafm  of 
their  courage  and  refolution,  they  crowned  her  wiih 
flowers  who  firft  made  the  propofal.  Many  inftan- 
ces  occur  in  thehiflory  of  the  Romans,  of  the  Gauls 
and  Germans,  and  of  other  nations  in  fubfequent 
periods;  where  women  being  driven  to  defpair  by 
their  enemies,  have  bravely  defended  their  walls,  or 
waded  through  fields  of  blood  to  alTift  their  country- 
men, and  free  themfelves  from  flavery  or  from 
ravifhment.  Such  heroic  efforts  are  beauties,  even 
in  the  charafter  of  the  fofter  fex,  when  they  proceed 
from  neceflity:  when  from  choice,  they  are  ble- 
miflies  of  the  mod  unnatural  kind,  indicating  a 
heart  of  cruelty,  lodged  in  a  form  which  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  gentlenefs  and  peace. 

It  has  been  alleged  by  fome  of  the  writers  on  hu- 
man nature,  that  to  the  fair  fex  the  lofs  of  beaut  v  h 
more  alarming  and  infupportable  than  the  lofs  of  life: 


So  THE  HISTORY 

but  even  this  lofs,  however  oppofite  to  the  feelings 
of  their  nature,  they  have  voluntarily  coniented  to 
fiiftain,  that  they  might  not  he  the  objects  of  temp- 
tation to  the  lawlefs  ravifher.  The  nuns  of  a  con- 
vent in  France,  fearing  they  mould  be  violated  by  a 
ruffian  army,  which  had  taken  by  dorm  the  town 
in  which  their  convent  was  fituated,  at  the  recom- 
mendation of  their  abbefs,  mutually  agreed  to  cut 
off  all  their  noies,  that  they  might  lave  their  chaifity 
by  becoming  objects  of  difguft  inftead  of  delire. 
Were  we  to  defcend  to  particulars,  we  could  give 
innumerable  inftances  of  women,  who,  from  Se- 
miramis  down  to  the  prefent  time,  'have  diilin- 
guifhed  themfelves  by  their  courage.  Such  was  Pen- 
theiilea,  who,  if  we  may  credit  ancient  (lory,  led 
her  army  of  viragoes  to  the  afllifance  of  Priam  king 
of  Troy  ;  Thomyris,  who  encountered  Cyrus  king 
of  Perfia ;  and  Thaleftris,  famous  for  her  lighting, 
as  well  as  for  hoc  amours  win.  Alexander  the  Great. 
Such  was  Boadicea,  queen  oi'  the  Britons,  who  led 
on  that  people  to  revenge  the  wrongs  clone  to  herfelf 
and  her  country  by  the  Romans.  And  in  later  peri- 
ods, fnch  was  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  and  Margaret 
of  Anjou  ;  which  lail,  according  to  feveral  hiftori- 
aus,  commanded  at  no  lefs  than  twelve  pitched  bat- 
tles. But  we  do  not  choofe  to  multiply  inflances  of 
this  nature,  as  we  have  already  faid  enough  to  ihew, 
that  the  fex  are  not  deftitute  of  courage  when  that 
virtue  becomes  neceffary  ;  and  were  they  poiTeffed 
of  it,  when  unneceflary,  it  would  divert  them  of  one 
of  the  principal  qualities  for  which  we  love,  and  for 
which  we  value  them.  No  woman  was  ever  held 
up  as  a  pattern  to  her  fex,  becaufe  me  was  intrepid 
and  brave  ;  no  woman  ever  conciliated  the  affections 
oflhe  men,  by  rivalling  them  in  what  they  reckon 
ihe  peculiar  excellencies  of  their  own  characv    . 


OF  WOMEN.  81 

Although  it  appears,  from  what  we  have  related, 
that  an  opinion  has  been  pretty  generally  diffufed 
among  mankind  that  the  female  fex  are  in  body  and 
in  mind  greatly  inferior  to  the  male  ;  yet  that  opi- 
nion has  not  been  lb  univerfal  as  to  exclude  every 
exception  ;  for  whole  nations,  in  fome  periods,  and 
fome  individuals  in  every  period,  have  held  a  con- 
trary one.  We  have  already  given  fome  account  of 
the  veneration  in  wThich  the  ancient  Egyptians  held 
their  women  ;  a  veneration  which  feems  at  lead  to 
have  continued  to  the  days  of  Cleopatra.  We  have 
feen  other  nations  placing  the  fountain  of  honour  in 
the  fex,  and  others  again  valuing  every  fmgle  wo- 
man at  the  rate  of  fix  men.  We  have  feen  the  Ger- 
mans admitting  them  to  be  prefent  at,  and  to  direct 
their  councils.  The  Greeks,  Romans,  and  ancient 
Britons,  confecrating  them  to  the  facred  function  of 
rniniftring  at  the  altars  of  their  gods.  We  have 
feen  the  initiuuion  of  chivalry  railing  them  almoft 
above  the  level  of  mortality.  But  in  Italy,  even  in 
a  period  when  chivalry  had  nearly  expired,  we  find 
them  rifen  in  the  opinion  of  the  men  to  a  height,  at 
which  they  had  never  arrived  before.  In  Rome, 
when  it  became  io  venal,  that  every  thing  could  be 
purchafed  for  money,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for 
the  wives  or  raiftreffes  of  the  rich  and  opulent  to  be 
deified  after  their  death.  In  modern  Italy,  this  ridi- 
culous dignity  was  conferred,  while  living,  upon 
Joan  of  Arragon,  who  was  one  of  the  moil:  extraor- 
dinary women  of  the  lixteenth  century,  in  confe- 
quence  of  a  decree  paffed  at  Venice,  in  the  year  one 
thoufand  five  hundred  and  fifty-one,  in  the  acade- 
my  of  the  Dubbioii.  Upon  her  lifter,  the  Marchio- 
nefs  de  Guaft,  they  conferred  the  title  of  a  divinity  ; 
md  propofed  building  a  temple,  in  which  thev 
Id  both  be  worihipped  together.     But  fome  of 


82  THE  HISTORY 

the  academicians  obferving,  that  two  divinities, 
efpecially  of  the  feminine  gender,  would  probably 
not  agree  together  in  the  fame  temple  ;  it  was  at  lall 
refolved,  that  the  Marchionefs  mould  be  worfhipped 
by  herfelf,  and  that  to  her  lifter,  Joan  of  Arragon, 
mould  be  ere&ed  a  temple,  of  which  fhe  mould 
have  the  fole  poflefTion.  It  was  accordingly  raifed, 
and  flood  for  fome  time  the  mod  demonstrative  proof 
of  human  folly  that  hiftory  has  any  where  re- 
corded. 


OF  WOMEN.  83 


CHAPTER    XX. 


Of  Drefs,  Ornament !,  and  the  various  other  Methods 
whereby  Women  endeavour  to  render  themfelves 
agreeable  to  the  Men. 


T 


HE  mutual  inclination  of  the  fexes  to 
each  other,  is  the  fource  of  many  of  the  ufeful  arts, 
and  perhaps  of  all  the  elegant  refinements  ;  by  con- 
ftantly  exerting  itfelf  in  ftrenuous  endeavours  to 
pleafe ;  to  be  agreeable,  and  even  to  be  neceffary, 
it  gives  an  additional  flavour  to  the  rational  pleafures, 
and  multiplies  even  the  conveniences  of  life. 

In  the  articles  of  convenience  and  neceility,  we 
have  greatly  the  advantage  over  the  women,  who, 
weak  and  helplefs  in  themfelves,  naturally  rely  on 
us  for  whatever  is  ufeful  and  whatever  is  neceftary. 
In  the  articles  of  pleafure  and  of  refinement,  they 
have  as  much  the  advantage  of  us,  and  we  as  natu- 
rally look  up  to  them  as  the  fource  of  our  pleafures, 
as  they  do  to  us  as  the  fource  of  their  fuilenance  and 
their  fortunes ;  but  befides  the  advantages  of  being 
fo  neceffary  to  the  women  on  account  of  procuring 
them  convenience  and  fubfiltence,  men,  by  nature 
bold  and  intrepid,  have  a  thoufand  ways  of  ingratiat- 
ing themfelves  into  the  favour  of  the  fex,  and  may 
praftife  them  all  with  opennefs  and  freedom ; 
whereas,  women  mud  endeavour  to  work  themfelves 
into  our  affections  by  methods  filent  and  difguifed ; 
for,  mould  the  mafk  be  thrown  off,  their  intentions 
would  not  only  be  fruflrated,  but  the  very  attempt 
would  fix  upon  them  the  character  of  forwardness, 


84  THE  HISTORY 

and  want  of  that  modefty  which  cuftom.  has  made 
fo  effential  a  part  of  female  excellence.  Nothing  ap- 
pears mor- evi  J  tnt,  than  that  we  all  wifh  women  to 
be  agreeable,  and  to  infmuatc  themfelves  into  our 
favour,  but  then  we  wifli  them  to  do  fo  only  by  na- 
ture, and  not  by  art,  or  at  leaft  that  the  little  art 
they  employ,  fhould  look  as  like  nature  as  poftible. 

Compelled  to  act  under  thefe  difadvantages,  the 
fex  are  obliged  to  lay  a  perpetual  reilraint  on  their 
behaviour,  and  often  to  difclaim  by  their  words,  and 
even  their  actions,  fuch  honed  and  virtuous  attach- 
ments as  they  approve  in  their  hearts.  When  they, 
however,  direct  their  attacks  upon  no  particular  in- 
dividual, but  only  ftrive  to  cultivate  their  minds  and 
adorn  their  bodies,  that  they  may  become  the  more 
Worthy  of  being  honourably  attacked  by  us,  we  not 
only  pardon,  but  love  them  for  thofe  arts,  which,  by 
embelliihing  nature,  render  her  Hill  more  agree- 
able. 

Nature  has  given  to  men  ftrength,  and  to  women 
beauty;  our  ftrength  endears  us  to  them,  not  only 
by  affording  them  protection,  but  by  its  laborious 
efforts  for  their  maintenance;  their  beauty  endears 
them  to  us,  not  only  by  the  delight  it  offers  to  our 
fenfes,  butalfo  by  that  power  it  has  of  foftening  and 
compofmg  our  more  rugged  paffions.  Every  animal 
is  confeious  of  its  own  ftrength,  and  of  the  proper 
mode  of  employing  it;  women,  abundantly  confei- 
ous that  theirs  lies  in  their  beauty,  endeavour  with 
the  utmoft  care  to  heighten  and  improve  it.  To  give 
fome  account  of  the  many  and  various  methods  which 
have  been  and  (till  are  made  ufe  of  for  this  purpofe, 
is  the  fubject  upon  which  we  would  wilh  at  prelect 
to  turn  the  attention  of  our  fair  readers. 


OF  WOMEN.  $s 

Next  to  the  procuring  of  daily  food  for  the  fufle- 
nance  of  our  bodies,  that  of  clothing  them  feems  the 
molt  elTentially  neceffary,  and  there  'are  few  inven- 
tions in  which  more  ingenuity  has  been  difplayed,  or 
more  honour  done  to  the  human  underftanding. 
The  art  of  clothing  ourfelves  with  decent  propriety, 
is  one  of  thole  improvements  which  ftrongly  diftin- 
'guifli  us  from  the  brutes;  that  of  clothing  ourfelves 
with  elegance,  is  one  of  thofe  which  perpetually 
whet  the  invention,  and  di  ftinguilh  the  man  of  tafte 
from  the  mere  imitator. 

Though  the  ufe  of  clothes  may  appear  elTentially 
neceffary  to  us  who  inhabit  the  northern  extremities 
of  the  globe,  yet  as  they  could  not  be  fo  in  the 
warmer  climates  where  they  were  firft  invented,  fome 
other  caufe  than  merely  that  of  fecuring  the  bod  v 
from  the  injuries  of  the  air  muff,  have  given  birth  to 
them.  There  are  in  Afia,  which  we  fuppofe  to  have 
been  firft  inhabited,  a  variety  of  places  where  clothes 
would  not  only  have  been  altogether  ufelefs,  but 
alfo  burdenfome ;  yet  over  all  this  extenfive  country 
and  in  every  other  part  of  the  world,  except  among 
a  few  of  the  molt  favage  nations,  all  mankind  have 
been,  and  (till  are,  accuftomed  to  ufe  fome  kind  of 
covering  for  their  bodies.  Had  clothes  been  origi- 
nally intended  only  for  defending  the  body  agaiin-. 
cold,  it  would  naturally  follow,  that  they  mu.il  have 
been  invented  and  brought  to  the  greateft  perfection 
in  the  coldeft  regions,  and  that  the  inhabitants  of 
every  cold  country,  impelled  by  neceihty,  mull  at 
lead  have  difcovered  the  ufe  of  them  long  before  the 
prefent  time;  but  neither  of  thefe  is  the  cafe,  for  the 
art  of  making  garments  was  invented  before  any  of 
the  colder  countries  were  inhabited,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  fome  of  the  mod  inhofpitable  regions  of  the 

VOL.  II.  M      ' 


id  THE  HISTORY 

globe,  particularly  about  the  dreights  of  Magellan, 
are  at  this  day  naked. 

From  thefe  indances  it  feems  plain,  that  necerTity 
was  not  the  fole  caufe  which  fird  induced  men  to 
cover  their  bodies  ;  fome  other  reafon  at  lead  mud 
have  co-operated  with  it,  to  make  the  cudom  fo 
imiverfal ;  fhame  has  been  alleged  as  this  other  rea- 
fon, and  by  fome  faid  to  have  been  the  only  caufe  of 
the  original  invention  of  clothing  ;  but  this  opinion 
is  not  Supported  by  facts,  for  fhame  does  not  feem 
natural  to  mankind ;  it  is  the  child  of  art,  and  the 
nearer  we  approach  to  nature,  the  lefs  we  are  ac- 
quainted with  it.  We  have  already  feen  that  the 
natives  of  Otaheite  have  no  fuch  feelings,  or  at  lead 
if  they  have,  that  it  is  not  called  forth  into  action 
by  the  fame  circumdances  and  fituations  as  among  us. 
It  would  be  endlefs  to  enumerate  the  various  coun- 
tries in  which  both  fexes  are  entirely  naked,  and 
consequently  infenfibleon  that  account  ofihame  ;  or 
which  is  ftill  a  flrongcr  proof  of  our  affertion,  to 
enumerate  thofe,  in  which,  though  clothes  are  com- 
monly made  ufe  of,  yet  no  fhame  is  annexed  to  un- 
covering any  part  of  the  body.  But  that  we  may 
not  build  our  hypothecs  entirely  upon  the  cudoms 
of  favage  life,  let  us  confider  the  date  of  infancy  and 
youth  in  the  mod  polidied  fociety.  There  nothing 
is  more  obvious,  than  that  neither  of  the  fexes  have 
any  fhame  on  account  of  being  naked  when  leveral 
years  old,  and  that  even  at  the  age  of  feven  or  eight, 
expofing  thofe  parts  of  the  body  that  are  not  ufually 
expofed,  is  a  circumdance  to  which  they  pay  fo  little 
regard,  that  mothers,  and  other  people  who  have  the 
care  of  them,  often  find  great  difficulty  in  teaching 
them  to  conform  in  this  particular  to  the  cudoms  of 
their  country,  and  are  frequently  obliged  even  to 
e  ufe  of  correction  before  they  can  obtain  their 


OF   WOMEN.  87 

purpcfe.  To  this  teaching,  and  to  this  correction, 
we  owe  the  firll  fenfations  of  (hame,  on  exposing  our- 
felves  otherwiie  than  the  mode  of  our  country  prc- 
fcribes,  and  cuftom  keeps  up  the  lenfation  ever  after; 
for  fharne  is  not  excited  upon  deviating  from  cuftom 
by  doing  things  only  which  have  a  real  turpitude  in 
their  nature,  but  alfo  by  deviating  from  it  in  thofe 
things  that  are  innocent  or  indifferent. 

If  from  the  foregoing  reafons  it  fhould  appear, 
that  the  origin  of  clothing  was  neither  altogether 
owing  to  neceflity,  nor  to  fliame,  then  the  caufe 
ftill  remains  to  be  discovered ;  and  cfais  caufe  we  fup- 
pofe  to  have  been  a  kind  of  innate  principle,  efpeci- 
aliy  in  the  fair  fex,  prompting  them  to  improve  by 
art  thofe  charms  bellowed  on  them  by  nature.  The 
reafons  which  induce  us  to  be  of  this  opinion  are, 
becaufe,  as  we  obferved  above,  cloth  is  were  inven- 
ted in  a  climate  where  they  were  but  little  wanted  to 
defend  from  the  cold,  and  in  a  period  when  the  hu- 
man race  were  too  innocent,  as  well  as  too  rude  and 
uncultivated,  to  have  acquired  the  fenfe  of  (hame  ; 
becaufe,  alfo,  in  looking  over  the  hiilory  of  mankind 
it  appears,  that  an  appetite  for  ornament,  if  we  may 
fo  call  it,  is  univerfally  diffufed  among  them,  where- 
ever  they  have  the  lead  leifure  from  the  indilpen  fable 
duty  of  procuring  daily  food,  or  are  not  depreiTed 
with  the  moil  abfolute  ilavery;  every  lavage  people, 
even  though  totally  naked,  (hew  their  love  of  orna- 
ment by  marks,  ftains,  and  paintings  of  various  kii 
upon  their  bodies,  and  thefe  frequently  of  the  moil 
finning  and  gaudy  colours.  Every  people,  whole 
country  affords  any  materials,  and  who  have  acqui- 
red any  art  in  fabricating  them,  (hew  all  the  ingenu- 
ity they  can  in  decking  and  adorning  themfelves  to 
the  bell  advantage,  with  what  they  have  thus  fabri- 
cated.    Thefe  circumflances    ftrongly  demonnrate, 


88  THE  HISTORY 

that  the  love  of  ornament  is  a  natural  principle, 
which  fhews  itfelf  in  every  climate,  and  in  every 
country,  almoft  without  one  fingle  exception.  But 
further,  were  clothes  intended  only  to  defend  from 
the  cold,  or  to  cover  fhame,  the  moft  plain  and  fim- 
ple  would  ferve  thefe  purpofes;  at  lead  as  well,  if 
not  better,  than  the  moil  gay  and  ornamental ;  but 
the  plain  and  the  fimple,  every  where  give  way  to 
the  gay  and  the  ornamental.  Ornament,  therefore, 
muft  have  been  one  of  the  caufes  which  gave  birth  to 
the  origin  of  clothing. 

As  there  is  in  human  nature  a  ftrong  propenfity  to 
the  love  of  variety,  this  might  likewife  contribute  to 
the  ufe  of  clothing:  abfolute  nakednefs  is  the  moft 
deitruclive  of  variety,  having  nothing  to  prefent  but 
the  fame  object,  in  the  fame  fhape  and  colour,  and 
without  any  other  variations  of  circumflances  than 
what  arife  from  change  of  attitude:  fuch  uniform 
and  unvaried  objects,  as  they  make  no  new  impref- 
fions  on  the  femes,  are  not  likely  to  excite,  and  (fill 
lefs  likely  to  continue  the  paffion  of  love;  to  do  either 
of  which,  "it  is  neceiTary  that  our  fenfes  mould  be 
ftruck  with  a  variety  of  appearances.  In  countries 
where  women  are  conffantly  in  the  original  drefs  of 
nature,  they  are  much  lefs  objects  of  deiire,  than 
where  they  are  enabled  by  drefs  to  vary  their  figure 
and  their  lhape,  conltantly  to  ftrike  us  with  fome 
new  appearance,  and  to  mew,  or  conceal  from  us,  a 
part  of  their  charms,  as  it  (hall  bed  anfwer  their 
purpofe.  It  is  probable  that  women  became  early 
acquainted  with  all  the  difadvantages  of  appearing 
perpetually  the  fame;  and  that  to  remedy  them, 
they  contrived,  by  degrees,  to  alter  themfelves  by 
the  aififtance  of  drefs  and  ornament. 


OF  WOMEN.  89 

Becaufe  favage  life  is  the  ftate  that  approaches  the 
neareft  to  nature  ;  and  becaufe,  in  this  ftate,  wo- 
men fometimes  neglect  every  kind  of  drefs  and  orna- 
ment, it  has  therefore  been  concluded,  that  to  drefs, 
and  to  ornament  themfelves,  is  a  paffion  not  natural 
to  the  fex  :  but  this  conclufion  will  be  found  to  be 
improperly  drawn,  by  confidering,  that  wherever 
women  totally  neglect,  ornament  and  drefs,  it  is  ei- 
ther where  they  have  no  materials  for  thefe  purpo- 
fes,  as  in  the  Streights  cf  Magellan  ;  or  where  they 
are  fo  deprefTed  with  flavery  and  ill  ufage,  as  on  the 
banks  of  the  Oroonoko,  that  even  a  paffion  fo  natu- 
ral, is  totally  fuppreffed  by  the  feverity  of  their  fate; 
for  even  in  the  moil  favage  ftates  of  mankind,  if  the 
women  are  not  depreffed  with  abject  flavery,  they 
make  every  effort,  and  ftrain  every  nerve  to  get 
materials  of  finery  and  of  drefs.  On  the  coaft  of 
Patagonia,  where  the  natives  of  both  fexes  are 
almoft  entirely  naked,  the  women,  in  point  of  orna- 
ment, were  much  on  an  equality  with  the  men,  and 
painted  nearly  in  the  fame  manner  ;  and  one  of 
them,  finer  than  any  of  her  male  or  female  compa- 
nions, had  not  only  bracelets  on  her  arms,  but 
firings  of  beads  alfo  interwoven  with  her  h^ir. — . 
Among  many  of  the  tribes  of  wandering  Tartars, 
who  are  almoft  as  rude  and  uncultivated  as  imagina- 
tion can  paint  them,  the  women,  even  though  in  a 
great  meafure  confined,  are  loaded  with  a  profufion 
of  the  richeft  ornaments  their  hufbands  or  relations 
can  procure  for  them.  But  it  would  be  needlefs  to 
adduce  any  mere  proofs  in  fupport  of  our  opinion  ; 
the  whole  hiftory  of  mankind,  ancient  and  modern, 
is  fo  full  of  them,  that  unlefs  we  draw  general  con- 
clufions  from  particular  inftances,  we  cannot  enter- 
tain a  doubt,  that  the  love  of  finery  is  more  natural 
to  the  other  fex  than  to  ours. 


90  THE  HISTORY 

Taking  it  then  for  granted,  that  the  love  of  drefs 
is  a  natural  appetite,  we  may  reafonably  conclude, 
that  it  began  to  (hew  itfelf  in  a  very  early  period  of 
antiquity ;  but  in  what  manner  it  was  firft  exerted, 
and  what  materials  originally  olFered  themfelves  for 
its  gratification,  are  fubjects  of  which  we  know  but 
little  :  the  firft  garment  mentioned  by  hiftory,  was 
compofed  of  leaves  fewed  together,  but  with  what 
they  were  fewed,  we  have  no  occount ;  from  this 
hint,  it  is  reafonable  to  prcfume,  that  mankind,  in 
the  firft  ages,  made  ufe  of  fuch  materials  for  drefs  as 
nature  prefented,  and  needed  the  leaft  preparation. 
Strabo  tells  us,  that  fome  nations  made  ufe  of  the 
bark  of  trees,  others  of  herbs  or  reeds,  rudely  wo- 
ven together  :  but  of  all  other  materials,  the  Adas  of 
animals  feem  to  have  been  the  molt  univerfally  ufcd 
in  the  ages  we  are  confidering  :  but  being  then  ig- 
norant of  the  method  of  making  thefe  ikins  flexible 
by  the  art  of  tanning,  or  of  feparating  the  hair  from 
them,  they  wore  them  in  the  fame  flate  in  which 
they  came  from  the  bodies  of  the  animals  :  finding 
them,  however,  cumberfome  and  inconvenient  in 
this  condition,  it  is  natural  to  fuppofe,  that  they  loon 
applied  themfelves  to  difcover  fome  method  of  ren- 
dering them  more  pliable,  and  better  adapted  to 
their  purpofes  ;  but  when,  or  where  they  diicover- 
ed  this  method  is  uncertain.  The  ancient  annals  of 
China  inform  us,  that  Tchifang,  one  of  their  rhft 
kings,  taught  them  to  prepare  the  ikins  of  animals 
for  garments,  by  taking  off  the  hair  with  a  wooden 
roller  ;  but  even  after  the  ikins  of  animals  were,  by 
the  various  methods  praclifed  in  different  countries, 
rendered  fomething  more  convenient,  they  were  not 
naturally  adapted  to  form  a  neat  and  commodious 
covering  for  the  human  body  ;  many  of  them  were 
too  little,  others  too  large  ;  thofe  that  were  too 
large,  it  was  an  eafy  matter  to  make  lefs  at  pieafurej 


OF  WOMEN.  91 

but  thofe  that  were  too  little,  could  not  be  enlarged 
without  the  art  of  fewing  them  together ;  an  are, 
which  a  great  part  of  mankind  were  long  in  difco- 
vering.  Tjjaread  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
among  the  mod  early  inventions,  as  we  may  fup- 
pofe  from  finding  many  favage  nations  at  this  day 
without  it,  and  without  thread  they  could  do  no- 
thing. Hefiod  tells  us,  That,  infcead  of  thread, 
the  ancients  ufed  the  finews  of  animals  dried,  and 
fplit  into  fmall  fibres.  Thorns,  iharp  bones,  and 
the  like,  fupplied  the  place  of  needles;  and  of  thofe 
rude  materials,  and  in  this  rude  manner  were  the 
clothes,  or  rather  coverings,  of  the  firft  ages  made; 
but  we  muft  obferve,  that  they  were  not  fitted  to  the 
body  as  at  prefent ;  but  all  loofe,  and  nearly  of  an 
equal  fize  ;  a  circumftance  ftrongly  proved  by  the 
many  changes  of  raiment  which  wrere  in  the  poffef- 
fion  of  the  great,  and  of  which  they  made  prefents 
to  fuch  as  they  were  inclined  to  honour,  and  in  which 
they  ufed  to  clothe  the  gueffcs  who  came  to  vifit 
them  ;  purpofes  which  they  never  could  have  an- 
fwered,  had  they  been  all  exn.ftiy  fitted  to  the  body 
of  the  original  owner  ;  but  this  circumftance  is  alfo 
further  proved  from  the  clothing  of  thofe  nations 
which  retain  ft  ill  the  ltrongeit  traces  of  antiquity. 
The  garments  of  the  Welch,  and  Scotch  Highland- 
ders,  are,  at  this  day,  (o  wide  and  loofe,  that  they 
may  eafily  be  applied  to  the  ufe  of  any  wearer. 

As  fociety  began  to  improve,  and  the  fexes  be- 
came more  ambitious  of  rendering  themfelves  agree- 
able to  each  other,  they  endeavoured  to  di  (cover 
fuch  materials  as  could  be  made  into  garments  of  a 
more  commodious  and  agreeable  cBature  than  the 
leaves  or  bark  of  tress,  or  the  lkins  of  animals;  and 
their  firfr.  efforts  were  pi ohabl  made  upon  camel's 
jbair;   a  material  which  they  ftill  work  into  clothing 


92  THE  HISTORY 

in  the  Eaft.  From  camel's  hair  the  transition  to  wool 
was  eafy  and  natural;  and  it  would  foon  be  found, 
that  either  of  them  formed  a  covering,  not  only 
more  pliable,  warm,  and  fubftantial ;  but  alfo  more 
elegant,  than  any  thing  they  had  before  been  accuf- 
tomed  to.  At  what  period  they  firft  invented  the 
art  of  converting  thefe  materials  into  garments  is  un- 
certain: all  we  know  is,  that  it  was  very  early;  for 
in  the  patriarchal  ages,  we  are  told  of  the  great  care 
'taken  by  the  inhabitants  of  Paleftine  and  Mefopota- 
mia,  in  meering  ther  flieep ;  the  wool  of  which  'they, 
no  doubt,  had  the  art  of  making  into  covering  and 
to  ornament.  The  ufes  which  were  now  made  of 
wool  and  of  camel's  hair,  might  poffibly  fugged  the 
m-fl  ideas  of  feparating  into  diftinct  threads  the  fibres 
of  plants,  fo  as  to  convert  them  into  the  fame  ufes  : 
however  that  be,  it  is  certain,  that  this  art  was  early 
cultivated.  In  the  plagues  which  were  fent  to  dif- 
trefs  Egypt,  on  account  of  the  Ifraelites,  we  read  of 
the  deftruftion  of  the  flax ;  and  in  periods  a  little 
polterior,  we  have  frequent  mention  made  of  the  fine 
linen  of  Egypt.  Such  were  the  materials  in  which 
men  clothed  themfelves  in  the  firft  ages.  We  mall 
now  take  a  fhort  view  of  what  they  had  for  orna- 
ment and  mow. 

In  the  days  of  Abraham,  the  art  of  ornamenting 
the  body  with  various  materials  was  far  from  being 
unknown  to  many  of  the  Afiatic  nations ;  they  had 
then  jewels  of  feveral  kinds,  as  well  as  vdlels  of 
gold  and  filver.  Ellezar,  Abraham's  fervant, 
when  he  went  to  court  Rebecca,  for  Ifaac  his 
mailer's  Ion,  carried  along  with  him  jewels  of 
gold,  and  lilver,  and  bracelets,  and  rings,  as  pre- 
fents  to  procure  him  a  favourable  reception.  We 
find  the  fame  Rebecca  afterwards  in  poiTefiion  of 
perfumed  garments,  which  Hie  put  on  her  fon  Jacob, 


OF  WOMEN.  93 

to  enable  him  to  cheat  his  father,  by  paffing  him- 
felf  upou  him  for  his  brother  Eiau.  Perfumes  and 
odours  muft  then  have  been  introduced  ;  and  when 
they  had  arrived  at  the  luxury  of  perfuming  their 
apparel,  we  may  conclude,  that  the  modes  of  dref- 
fing  in  thofe  days  were  not  io  plain  and  fimple  as 
fome  would  endeavour  to  perfuade  us.  Jacob  gave 
his  beloved  fon  jofeph  a  coat  of  divers  colours  fup- 
pofedtobe  made  of  cotton,  and  finer  than  thofe  of 
his  brethren  :  which  was  the  caufe  of  their  fellino- 
him  for  a  Have  into  Egypt.  But  notwithstanding 
all  this  finery,  the  people  of  the  primative  ages  were 
not  acquainted  with  the  art  of  dreffing  gracefully  ; 
their  upper  garment  was  only  a  piece  of  cloth,  in 
which  they  wrapped  therafelves  ;  nor  had  they  any 
other  contrivance  to  keep  thefe  firm  about  them, 
than  by  holding  them  round  their  bodies.  ■  Many 
uncultivated  nations  at  this  time  exhibit  the  fame  rude 
appearance.  We  have  a  ftriking  infiance  of  it  in 
Otaheite,  where  the  people  wrap  themfelves  in 
pieces  of  cloth  of  a  length  almoft  incredible ;  and 
the  higher  the  rank  of  the  wearer,  fo  much  the  more 
is  the  length  of  his  cloth  augmented.  In  the  patri- 
archal ages,  the  Pfraelites  had  advanced  a  few  fleps 
beyond  the  fimplicity  we  have  now  defcribed  ;  they 
had  garments  made  with  ileeves,  and  cloaks  which 
they  threw  over  all  ;  but  their  Jhoes  were  like  thofe 
of  the  neighbouring  nations,  only  compofed  of  pie- 
ces of  leather,  to  defend  the  foles  of  their  feet,  and 
fattened  on  with  thongs.  So  nightly  defended, 
they  never  could  travel  on  foot,  nor  hardly  ftir 
abroad,  without  having  their  feet  much  defiled  ;  it 
was  therefore  always  necelfary  to  wafli  them  when 
they  got  home,  a  ceremony  often  mentioned  in  the. 
fcripture,  which  the  fervant  generally  performed  to 
his  matter,  and  the  matter  often  to  his  yiiitqrs  a 
guetts. 

vol.  ii.  N 


94  THE  HISTORY 

Hid  all  thefe  anecdotes  of  the  drefs  of  the  firir. 
ages,  it  is  not  a  little  furprifing,  that  we  have  no 
account  of  what  was  worn  by  the  women,  except 
the  few  ornaments  we  have  already  mentioned  being 
given  to  Rebecca.  But  though  we  connot  now  con- 
jecture what  was  their  drefs,  we  are  allured,  that 
it  differed  on  account  of  different  circumftances. — 
For  Tamar,  when  me  went  to  fit  by  the  way-fide,  to 
impofe  herfelf  upon  Judah  for  an  harlot,  was  habit- 
ed in  the  garments  peculiar  to  a  widow,  which  (he 
put  off,  and  dreffed  herfelf  in  fuch  as  were  peculiar 
to  an  harlot.  Whence  it  appears,  that  not  only 
widows  and  harlots,  but  perhaps  fevcral  other  con- 
ditions were  diitinguilhed  from  one  another  by  par- 
ticular drelTes  ;  a  ftrong  proof  that  drefs  was  in  thefe 
periods  a  circumilance  of  no  fmall  importance,  and 
greatly  attended  to  ;  for,  where  drefs  is  only  in  its 
infancy,  it  is  not  made  ufe  of  as  a  badge  to  diftra- 
i{h  one  perfon  from  another  ;  but  in  poliiheu  na- 
tions', it  is  not  only  made  ufe  of  to  diftinguifh  rank, 
but  even  profeflions  and  circuniitances  are  marked 
out  by  it. 

Some  of  the  neighbouring  nations,  and  particularly 
the  Midianites,  had,  in  the  primitive  ages,  carried 
their  attention  to  drefs  dill  farther  than  the llraclites; 
for  we  read  in.  the  book  of  Judges,  of  their  gold 
chains  bracelets,  rings,  tablets,  purple  ornaments 
of  their  kings,  and  even  gold  chains  or  collars  for 
the  necks  of  their  camels.  Though  the  drefs  of  the 
common  people  of  Egypt Teems  to  have  been  fimple, 
yet  the  great  made  ufe  of  a  variety  of  decorations. 
They  had  changes  of  raiment.  Jofeph  gave  changes 
of  raiment  to  each  of  his  brethren.  They  wore  i 
ments  made  of  cotton,  and  coftly  chains  about  their 
necks.  As  to  the  drefs  of  the  women,  all  we  know 
of  it  is,  that  they  had  only  one  kind,  whereas  the 


O  F  WO  MEN.  95 

men  had  more;  whether  by  one  kind  of  drefs  only, 
is  meant,  that  all  their  variety  of  changes  were  made 
in  one  farhion,  or  of  the  fame  fort  of  materials,  is 
uncertain;   but  however  this  be,  they  had,  beiidcs 
their  clothes,  a  variety  of  ornaments;   forMofes  tells 
us,  that  when  the  Ifraelites    finally  departed  from 
Egypt,  they  were  ordered  to  'borrow  jewels  of  gold 
and  jewels  of  filver,  to  put  them  on  their  fons  and 
daughters,  and  to  fpoil  the  Egyptians.     Nor  need 
we  wonder,  that  they  were  porTelTed  of  thefe  things 
at  the  period  when  the  Ifraelites  went  out  from  ih'_m, 
for  even  in  the  days  of  Jofeph,  luxury  and  magnifi- 
cence were  carried  to  a  great  height;   they. had,  be- 
fides  their  jewels,  veifels  of  gold  and  filver,  rich  ftu&fg 
and  perfumes;   were  waited  upon  by  a  great  number 
of  Haves,  and  drawn  in  chariots,  of  which  they  had 
feveral  forts;  they  had  embroideries  of  various  kinds 
which  were  alio  ufed  among  the  neighbouring  nations ; 
for  Mofes  mentions  works  of  embroidery,  with  an 
agreeable  variety;    and    Pliny  tells  us,    that  they 
painted  linen   by  laving  certain  drugs   upon    it.- — 
From  all  thele  anecdotes,    as  well '  as  from  the  ilxi- 
menfe  fums  which  we  have   already  taken  notice  of 
being  allotted  to  the  toilette  of  the  queens  of  Egypt, 
we  may  conclude,  that  the  drefs  of  their  women  was 
at  leaft  coftly,  if  not  elegant.      We  {hall  fini/h  what 
we  had  to  fay  on  this  fubject  by  obferving,  that  what 
moil  particularly  diftinguifhed  this  people,  wastheir 
attention  to  cleanlinefs;     they  ntst  only  kept   their 
garments   exceedingly  neat,    but  the  opulent  had 
them  waihed  every  time  they  put  them  on. 

That  beauty  was  in  all  ages  the  fubject  of  praife 
and  of  flattery,  we  may  infer  from  the  nature  of  man 
as  well  as  learn  from  the  fongs  of  the  ancient  bards. 
When  women  were  praifed,  when  they  were  flat- 
tered on  this  fubject,  it  was  natural  for  them  to  with 


96  THE  HISTORY 

to  fee  thofe  charms  of  which  they  had  heard  fo  much; 
but  what  all  their  ingenuity  could  not  difcover,  they 
were  directed  to  by  chance.  Some  perfon,  looking 
on  the  clear  furface  of  a  fmooth  pool,  faw  his  own 
image  in  the  water;  whether  this  furnilhed  the  firft 
hint  that  every  poiilhed  furface  would  have  the  fame 
effect,  or  whether  chance  directed  to  that  difcovery 
alio,  is  uncertain,  but  we  find  the  ufe  of  mirrors  in 
a  very  early  period  in  Egypt ;  and  from  them,  pro- 
bably, the  Ifraelites  firft  borrowed  that  art ;  for  mir- 
rors were  common  among  them  in  their  paffage 
through  the  wildcrnefs,as  appears  from  Mofes  having 
made  his  laver  of  brafs,  of  the  mirrors  offered  by  the 
women  who  attended  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle. 
The  art  of  making  mirrors  of  glafs  was  not  known  in 
thefe  days.  The  firft  and  beft  are  faid  to  have  been 
made  long  after,  of  a  fand  found  on  the  coafts  of  the 
Tyrian  fea;  thofe  then  in  ufe  were  made  of  highly 
polifhed  metal.  In  Egypt,  and  in  Paleftine,  they 
were  of  brafs.  When  the  ancient  Peruvians  were 
firft  difcovercd,  their  mirrors  were  of  brafs:  and,  at 
this  day,  in  the  Eaft,  they  are  commonly  made  of 
that,  or  fome  other  metal,  capable  of  receiving  a 
fine  polifh. 

The  ufe  of  mirrors,  among  the  Egyptians  and 
Ifraelites,  is  a  proof  that  the  ages  under  review, 
were  not  fo  rude  and  fimple  as  fome  would  infmuate. 
Many  nations  at  this  period  have  not  arrived  to  the 
knowledge  of  mirrors.  The  people  of  New  Zea- 
land were  furprifed  at  this  mode  of  viewing  their 
own  faces,  ^m\  behaved  on  the  occafion  with  a  mix- 
ture of  the  moft  ridiculous  grimace  and  merriment. 
Almoft  every  writer  of  voyages  into  favage  countries, 
prefents  us  with  hiftories  of  a  fimilar  nature.  How 
rapid  is  the  progrefs  of  human  genius  in  fome  coun- 
tries ?  How  How  in  othrs  ?  Whence  arifes  this  diver- 


OF  WOMEN.  97 

fity  ?  Is  it  from  climate,  from  neceflity,  or  from  a 
difference  in  the  original  powers  and  faculties  of  the 
mind  ?  Is  it  poilible  that  favages  never  have  feen 
themfelves  in  the  water  ?  If  they  have,  why  fliould 
they  be  fo  furprifed  at  feeing  themfelves  in  a  look- 
ing-glafs  ? 

The  face  is  the  part  of  the  body  where  female 
charms  and  graces  are  mod  confpicuoufly  placed  ; 
but  as  none  could  fee  her  own  face  without  the 
affiflance  of  art ;  before  the  ufe  of  mirrors,  a  wo- 
man muft  have  entirely  depended  on  the  relation  of 
others,  whether  fhe  was  beautiful  or  otherwife  ;  on 
her  own  dexterity,  or  the  word  of  her  hand-maid, 
flie  muff  have  refled  the  important  affair  of  having 
her  head-drefs  properly  adjufted,  and  the  colour 
fuited  to  her  complexion  ;  points  in  which  fhe 
might  often  be  deceived,  but  which  the  ufe  of  a 
mirror  put  in  her  own  power  to  difcover.  Mirrors, 
therefore,  with  regard  to  their  utility  in  female  life, 
may  be  juftly  reckoned  among  the  mod  valuable  of 
human  inventions.  What  kind  of  drefs  was  ufed 
for  the  head  in  the  primitive  ages  we  know  not ;  all 
that  we  have  any  account  of  concerning  it  is,  that 
on  fome  occ::fions  the  women  ufed  veils.  If  the 
drefs  of  the  head  was  however  as  fimple  in  its  con- 
flru£tion,  as  that  of  the  body,  the  adjufling  of  it 
would  require  but  little  time,  and  itill  lefs  inge- 
nuity. 


93  THE  HISTORY 


CHAPTER     XXI. 


The  fame  Subjecl  continued. 


N  periods  f.)  remote  as  thefe  we  are  now 
confidering,it  is  asimpofftble  for  us  togive  any  diilinft 
detail  of  the  various  dreffes  ufed  for  the  body,  as  of 
thole  ufed  for  the  head;  we  have  neither  delcriptions 
nor  monuments  left  to  elucidate  io  dark  a  fubject ; 
nor,  if  we  had,  is  it  our  intention  to  give  a  minute 
and  circumftantial  detail  of  every  article  ufed  at  the 
female  toilette  :  we  only  mean  to  point  out  how  far 
drefs  has  been  an  object  of  general  attention,  and  in 
what  manner  this  attention  has  exened  itielf ;  and 
we  111  all  leave  our  readers  to  make  their  own  reflec- 
tions, how  far  a  knov\  ledge  of  the  care  bellowed  on 
this  article  may  elucidate  the  manners  of  the  times, 
and  how  thefe  manners  might  influence  the  modes  of 
dreiTmg. 

Among  other  fubjects  of  popular  declamation,  the 
prefent  luxury  of  drefs  affords  a  conflant  opportuni- 
ty of  endeavouring  to  perfuade  us,  that  our  own 
times  furpafs  in  this  article  every  thing  that  has  gone 
before  us  ;  and  that  our  own  country  furpaffes  all 
the  world.  But  this  is  no  more  than  mere  declama- 
tion ;  for  if  we  look  back  even  to  very  remote  peri- 
ods of  amiquitv,  we  fhall  find  that  the  fame  thing 
was  then  the  fubjeft  of  declamation  as  well  as  at  pre- 
fent. The  third  chapter  of  Ifaiah  prefents  us  with 
an  account  of  the  finery  of  the  daughters  of  Babylon, 
which  no  modern  extravagance  has  hitherto  equal- 
led.    Homer  dreifes  feveral  of  his  heroes  and  hero- 


OF  WOMEN.  99 

ines  with  a  magnificence  to  which  we  are  Grangers ; 
and  Cleopatra  exhibited  an  extravagance  in  her 
drefs  and  entertainments,  which  in  our  times  would 
beggar  the  mod  wealthy  potentate  on  the  globe. 
Even  in  the  days  of  Mofes,  they  were  acquainted 
with  the  art  of  polifhing  precious  {tones  ;  and  not 
only  knew  how  to  fet,  but  what  appears  more  ex- 
traordinary, were  alfo  acquainted  with  the  art  of 
engraving  them.  The  ephod  of  Aaron  was  adorned 
with  two  onyxes  fet  in  gold,  on  each  of  which  the 
names  of  fix  tribes  of  Ifratl  were  engraved.  The 
breaft-plate  of  judgment,  {hone  with  twelve  precious 
Hones  of  different  colours,  upon  every  one  of  which 
was  the  name  of  one  of  the  twelve  tribes.  We 
might  ealily  multiply  inftances  to  ihew  the  fplendour 
and  magnificence  of  the  ancients  ;  but  thofe  already 
given  are  fufficient  to  teach  us  how  little  reafon  there 
is  for  declaimers  to  vilify  the  prefent  times,  nor  have 
they  more  reafon  to  exclaim  again{l  this  country ; 
whoever  has  feen  the  fplendour  and  magnificence  of 
the  Eaft,  muft  laugh  at  every  fatire  on  that  of 
Europe. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  precious  Hones  made  ufe 
of  by  the  ancients,  it  is  probable,  that  they  were  un- 
acquainted with  the  diamond,  which  modern  refine- 
ment has  flamped  with  fuch  an  immenfe  value;  fome 
have  imagined,  that  PJomer  and  Hefiod  have  men- 
tioned this  ftone  by  the  name  of  Adamas  and  Ada- 
mantinos;  but  it  has  been  more  judicioufly  fuppofed 
that  thefe  Greek  terms  have  not  the  leaf!  relation  to 
it;  and  Pliny,  who  has  taken  much  pains  to  investi- 
gate the  diicovery  of  precious  flones,  can  find  no 
mention  of  this  till  a  period  near  the  beginning  of  the 
ChrHtaan  cera.  But  Ion?  after  the  diicovery  of  dia- 
monds, they  cKd  not,  for  want  of  being  properly 
peliihea,    difplay  half  the  fuftfc  they  do  at  prefent; 


ioo  THE  HISTORY 

the  art  of  giving  them  this  luftre  by  poliiliing  them 
with  their  own  dull,  is  but  a  late  invention,  and 
afcribed  to  Lewis  de  Berquen,  a  native  of  Bruges, 
who  lived  only  about  three  hundred  years  ago. 

A  delire  of  attra&iag  the  public  attention,  natu- 
rally firfl  prompted  the  human  race  to  ornament 
themfelves  with  the  moll:  Aiming  and  brilliant  things 
which  nature  could  fupply.  Among  all  thefe,  the 
diamond,  after  it  was  difcovered,  held  the  firfl  rank  ; 
it  was,  therefore,  natural,  that  the  mines  which 
produce  it  mould  be  fought  after  with  avidity,  and 
preferved  with  care.  The  oldefl  diamond  mine  that 
we  know  of,  is  in  the  river  Gouel,  which  is  one  of 
thofe  that  empty  themfelves  into  the  Ganges.  The 
chain  of  mountains  which  runs  between  Cape  Como- 
rin  and  Bengal  has  yielded  a  large  quantity  of  dia- 
monds; they  are  there  found  in  cluilers,  lying  at 
from  fix  to  twelve  feet  below  the  furface  of  the 
ground.  The  ifle  of  Borneo,  according  to  fome  tra- 
vellers, produces  a  few  diamonds;  more  are  found  in 
Vifapour  and  Golconda;  the  mines  of  Vifapour  have 
been  known  about  three  hundred  years,  and  thofe  of 
Golconda  not  above  half  that  time.  About  the  be- 
ginning of  the  prefent  century  fome  flaves,  who  were 
condemned  to  look  for  gold  at  Sierra-do-frio  in  Bra- 
zil, ufed  to  fmd  fome  little  bright  flones,  which  they 
threw  away  as  of  no  confequence  ;  a  few  of  thefe, 
however,  being  preferved,  and  mown  to  the  gover- 
nor-general of  the  mines,  he  had  them  examined  by 
able  artifls,  who  declared  that  they  were  fine  dia- 
monds. Soon  after  this,  fearch  was  made  for  them 
with  fuch  fuccefs,  that  in  a  few  years  the  Rio- Janeiro 
•fleet  brought  to  Lifbon  eleven  hundred  and  forty-fix 
ounces  of  them.  This  produced  fuch  a  plenty,  that 
their  price  was  confiderably  diminifhed  ;  but  the  Por- 
tuguefe  miniflry,  in  order  to  reinflate  them  in  their 


OF  WOMEN.  101 

original  value,  conferred  on  a  company  the  cxclufive 
privilege  of  fearching  for  and  felling  them;  and  left 
the  avidity  of  the  company  mould  fruflrate  the  inten- 
tion of  the  miniftry,  it  was  flipulated,  that  no  more 
than  fix  hundred  llaves  mould  be  employed  in  the 
mines,  and  that  all  diamonds  exceeding  a  certain 
weight  fhould  be  the  property  of  the  king.  Avarice 
tramples  upon  every  right  human  and  divine.  It 
was  not  thought  fufficient  that  death  mould  be  the 
confequence  of  encroaching  on  this  privilege  of  the 
company;  but,  as  a  further  fecurity,  it  was  thought 
neceffary  to  depopulate  all  the  places  that  lay  in  the 
.neighbourhood  of  the  mines,  and  turn  the  whole  into 
a  folitary  wafle,  inacceffible  to  human  foot.  This 
wafte  at  prefent  comprehends  a  fpace  of  three  hun- 
dred miles,  in  which  there  is  only  one  large  village, 
inhibited  entirely  by  the  flaves  of  the  company.  So 
fhort  an  account  of  this  the  mod:  important  of  all 
bagatelles,  we  hope  our  readers  will  not  confider  as 
foreign  to  our  fubje£t,  efpecially  as  it  is  now  not  only 
fuch  an  article  of  commerce  and  luxury,  hetalfo  the 
ornament  which,  of  all  others,  is  moil  eagerly  fought 
after  by  the  fair  fex,  and  the  badge  which  diftin- 
guifhes  opulence  and  quality  from  the  lower  and 
more  humble  ranks  of  life. 

Individuals  of  the  human  fpecies,  like  thofe  of  ail 
others,  grow  old,  and  fufFer  by  decay;  but  the  fpe- 
cies itfelf,  always  the  fame,  is  constantly  diftiftin- 
guifhed  by  the  fame  propenfrMes,  and  actuated  by 
the  fame  pailions;  it  treads  in  the  fame  path  ehaf  it 
did  five  thoufand  years  ago ;  dignity  and  power  were 
then,  as  well  as  now,  in  many  places  conferred  by 
opulence,  and  diftinguifhed  by  ornament  and  drei  ; 
and  beauty  was  fond  of  adding  to  nature  by  all  the 
decorations  and  embellifhments  of  art.     Aar»  n,  . 

VOL.  II.  O 


U32  THE  HISTORY 

we  have  already  feen,  was  diftmguifhed  by  a  great 
profufion  of  ornaments  ;  the  greateft  part  of  the  he- 
roes of  Homer  were  diftmguilhed  by  therichnefs  and 
brilliancy  of  their  armour;  and  the  kings  of  the  an- 
cient Medes  and  Perfians,  and  of  many  of  the  neigh- 
bouring nations,  had  golden  fcepters,  as  enfigns  of 
their  power  and  authority. 

But  to  return  from  the  fubjeft  of  badges  of  diflinc- 
tion,  to  the  drefs  and  ornament  of  common  life.  In 
ancient  Babylon,  the  men  wore  fluffs  wrought  with 
gold  and  filver,  ornamented  with  coflly  embroidery, 
and  enriched  with  rubies,  emeralds,  faphires,  pearls, 
and  other  jewels,  of  which  the  Ealf.  has  always  been 
remarkably  productive;  collars  of  gold  were  alfo  a 
part  of  their  finery;  fuch  was  the  drefs  of  their  men; 
that  of  their  women  has  not  been  fo  particularly  def- 
cribed;  but  when  we  confider  the  rank  which  wo- 
men held  among  them,  and  the  natural  propenfity  of 
the  fex  to  drefs  and  ornament,  we  have  realon  to  be- 
lieve it  was  if  ill  more  coftly  and  magnificent,  efpeci- 
aliy  as  we  fo  frequently  find  the  prophets  reproving 
the  daughters  of  Babylon  for  their  pride,  and  the 
vanity  which  they  difplayed  in  the  variety  and  Iplen- 
dour  of  their  attire.  To  the  coftlinefs  of  the  materi- 
als of  their  garments,  the  BabylonifTi  women  fre- 
quently added  the  expenfe  of  the  moft  precious  per- 
fumes, with  which  they  perfumed  not  only  their  ap- 
parel, but  alio  their  bodies;  and  as  it  is  well  known 
that  the  perfumes  of  Babvlon  where  every  where 
famous  for  their  fuperior  excellence,  and  bore  an 
exceeding  high  price,  this  luxurious  article  mud 
have  added  greatly  to  the  expence  of  the  female  toi- 
lette. 

Drefs  and  ornament  did  not  lefs  excite  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Medes  and  Perfians  than  of  the  Babylo- 


OF  WOMEN.  10; 

mans ;  the  women  of  their  kings  were  habited  in  pll 
the  pomp  of  Eaflern  magnificence,  and  the  revenues 
of  whole  provinces  were  frequently  employed  in  de- 
corating her  who  happened  to  be  the  greateft  favour- 
ite. The  queens  had  certain  diftricts  let  apart  for 
maintaining  their  toilette  and  wardrobe,  one  for  the 
veil,  and  another  for  the  girdle,  &c.  and  thefe  dif- 
trifts  took  their  names  from  the  different  parts  of  the 
drefs  to  which  they  were  appropriated,  as  the 
queen's  girdle,  the  queen's  mantle,  &c.  The 
Medes,  when  a  diftinct  nation,  appear  to  have  paid 
the  greateft  attention  to  drefs,  for  the  luxury  and 
magnificence  of  which,  they  are  very  frequently  ex- 
claimed again  ft  by  the  writers  of  antiquity.  They 
wore  long  flowing  robes  with  large  hanging  fleeves ; 
thefe  robes  were  interwoven  with  a  variety  of  dif- 
ferent colours,  all  of  the  mod  gaudy  and  Alining 
nature  :  and  befides,  they  were  richly  embroidered 
with  gold  and  lilver.  They  were  likewife  loaded 
with  bracelets,  gold  chains,  and  necklaces  adorned 
with  precious  fiones,  and  wore  upon  the  head  a  kind 
of  tiara  or  high  pointed  cap,  exceedingly  magnifi- 
cent;  nay,  fo  far  had  they  carried  their  attention 
to  every  fpecies  of  decoration,  that  they  even  tinged 
their  eyes  and  eye-brows,  painted  their  faces,  and 
mingled  artificial  with  their  natural  hair.  Such,  in 
the  articles  of  drefs  and  ornament,  was  the  care 
and  attention  of  the  men  ;  antiquity  has  left  us  in 
the  dark  concerning  that  of  their  women,  and  has 
only  informed  us  in  general,  that  they  were  exceed- 
ingly beautiful.  We  may,  therefore,  reafonably 
fuppofe,  that  in  a  country  where  drefs  was  fo  much 
cultivated,  they  did  not  leave  thofe  charms  of  na- 
ture unaflifted,  but  drove  to  improve  them  by  even- 
ornament  of  art. 


io4  THE  HISTORY 

Notwithstanding  what  we  have  now  mentioned, 
in  looking  over  the  hiflory  of  antiquity,  we  are  apt 
at  firft  view  to  imagine,  that  the  ancient  heroes  def- 
pifed  drefs,  as  an  effeminacy  in  which  it  was  below 
their  notice  to  indulge  thtrmfelves.  Hercules  had 
only  a  lion's  Jkin  flung  over  his  fhoulders,  and  a  va- 
riety of  the  heroes  of  Homer,  and  the  other  ancient 
writers,  are  wrapped  in  thofe  of  the  different  ani- 
mals they  had  deftroyed ;  but  this  feems  only  to  have 
been  the  mode  in  which  they  clothed  themfelves 
in  ordinary  life,  or  perhaps  rather  when  they  went 
to  war,  or  to  hunting,  in  order  to  make  them  appear 
more  terrible  ;  for  on  public  occalions,  when  cere- 
mony was  thought  neceffary,  they  had  other  gar- 
ments of  a  very  different  nature.  The  mantle  of 
Ulyffes  is  defcribed  by  Homer  as  an  extraordinary 
piece  of  finery,  and  feveral  of  the  reft  of  his  heroes 
are  now  and  then  introduced  in  the  utmoff  magnifi- 
cence of  drefs  that  gods  and  men  could  fabricate  for 
them;  even  in  the  heroic  ages,  the  Greeks  wore 
clothes  adorned  with  gold  and  fiver,  and  ladies  of 
diilinclion  had  long  flowing  robes  faftened  with 
clafps  of  gold,  and  bracelets  of  the  fame  metal, 
adorned  with  amber  ;  nor  were  they  then  inconfei- 
ous  that  nature  might  be  improved  by  art,  for  they 
endeavoured  to  improve  their  complexions  by  feveral 
forts  of  paint,  in  compofing  and  laying  on  of  which, 
they  were  fcarcely  lefs  dexterous  than  the  ladies  of 
the  Aril  rank  and  fafhion  at  Vcrfailles.  But  with  all 
thefe  loads  of  finery,  the  ancients  were  flrangers  to 
elegance,  and  even  to  convenience,  in  their  drefs. 
In  the  times  we  are  fpeaking  of,  the  Greeks  had 
no  fhoes,  but  only  a  kind  of  fandals,  which  they 
put  on  when  they  went  out ;  neither  did  they  know 
the  ufe  of  breeches,  f  lockings,  nor  drawers,  nor 
pins,  nor  buckles,  nor  buttons,  nor  pockets;  they 
had  not  invented  the  art  of  lining  clothes,  and  when 


OF  WOMEN.  105 

cold,  were  obliged  to  fupply  the  defecl  of  lining,  by- 
throwing  one  garment  over  another. 

As  the  Greeks  emerged  from  the  barbarity  of  the 
heroic  ages,  among  other  articles  of  culture,  they 
began  to  beftow  more  attention  on  the  convenience 
and  elegance  of  drefs.  At  Athens,  the  ladies  com- 
monly employed  the  whole  morning  in  drefilng 
themfelves  in  a  decent  and  becoming  manner  ;  their 
toilette  confined  in  paints  and  wafhes,  of  fuch  a  na- 
ture as  to  clean  and  beautify  the  lkin,  and  they  took 
great  care  to  clean  their  teeth,  an  article  too  much 
neglecled :  fome  alfo  blackened  their  eye-brows,  and, 
if  neceflary,  fupplied  the  deficiency  of  the  Vermil- 
lion on  their  lips,  by  a  paint  faid  to  have  been  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful.  At  this  time  the  women  in 
the  Greek  iflands  make  much  ufe  of  a  paint  which 
they  call  Sulama,  which  imparts  a  beautiful  rednefs 
to  the  cheeks,  and  gives  the  Jkin  a  remarkable  glofs. 
Poffibly  this  may  be  the  fame  with  that  made  ufe  of 
in  the  times  we  are  confidering  ;  but  however  that 
be,  fome  of  the  Greek  ladies  at  prefent  gild  their 
faces  all  over  on  the  day  of  their  marriage,  and  con- 
fider  this  coating  as  an  irrefiftible  charm ;  and  in  the 
ifland  of  Scios,  their  drefs  does  not  a  little  refemble 
that  of  ancient  Sparta,  for  they  go  with  their  bo- 
foms  uncovered,  and  with  gowns  which  only  reach 
to  the  calf  of  their  leg,  in  order  to  mew  their  fine 
garters,  which  are  commonly  red  ribbons  curicufly 
embroidered.  But  to  return  to  ancient  Greece,  the 
ladies  fpent  likewife  a  part  of  their  time  in  cornpo- 
fmg  head-drefTes,  and  though  we  have  reafon  to 
fuppofe  that  they  were  not  then  fo  prepofleroully 
fantallic  as  thofe  prefentty  compofed  by  a  Parrfiaa 
milliner,  yet  they  were  probably  objects  of  no  fmall 
induftry  and  attention,  efpeciaily  as  we  find  that 
they  then  dyed  their  hair,  perfumed  it  with  the  moil 


jo6  THE  HISTORY 

coflly  effences,  and  by  the  means  of  hot  irons  difpo- 
fed  of  it  in  curls,  as  fancy  or  fafhion  directed.  Their 
clothes  were  made  of  fluffs  fd  extremely  light  and 
fine  as  to  mew  their  fhapes,  without  offending  againfl 
the  rules  of  decency.  At  Sparta,  the  cafe  was 
widely  different;  we  (hall  not  defcribe  the  drefs  of 
the  women,  it  is  fufficient  to  fay,  that  it  has  been 
loudly  complained  of  by  almoit  every  ancient  author 
who  has  treated  on  the  fubjeci. 

From  what  has  new  been  related  it  appears,  that 
the  women  of  antiquity  were  not  lefs  folicitous  about 
their  perlons  than  the  moderns,  and  that  the  mate- 
rials for  decorating  them,  were  neither  fo  few,  nor 
fo  fimple,  as  has  been  by  fome  imagined ;  facts  which, 
in  the  review  of  the  Romans,  will  appear  ftill  more 
confpicuous.  In  the  more  early  periods  of  that  great 
republic,  the  Romans,  in  their  perfons  as  well  as  in 
their  manners,  were  limple  and  unadorned;  we  (hall, 
therefore,  pafs  over  the  attire  of  thefe  times,  and 
confine  our  obfervations  to  thofe  when  the  wealth  of 
the  whole  world  centered  within  the  walls  of  Rome. 

The  Roman  ladies  went  to  bathe  in  the  morning, 
and  from  thence  returned  to  the  toilette,  where  wo- 
men of  rank  and  fortune  had  a  number  of  flaves  to 
attend  on  and  do  every  thing  for  them,  while  them- 
felves,  looking  conffantly  in  their  glaffes,  praclifed 
various  attitudes,  fludied  the  airs  of  negligence,  the 
fmiles  that  heft  became  them,  and  directed  the  plac- 
ing of  every  lock  of  the  hair,  and  every  part  of  the 
luad-drefs.  Coquettes,  ladies  of  morofe  temper, 
and  thofe  whofe  charms  had  not  attracted  fo  much 
notice  as  they  expected,  often  blamed  the  flaves  who 
dreffed  them  for  this  want  of  fuccefs ;  and  if  we  may 
believe  Juvenal,  fometimes  chaflifed  them  for  it  with 
the  mod  unfeeling  feveritv.     At  firh1,  the  maids  who 


0£  WOMEN.  107 

attended  the  toilette  were  to  aflift  in  adjufting  every 
part  of  the  drefs,  but  afterward  each  had  her  proper 
talk  ailigned  her;  one  had  the  combing,  curling,  and 
dreffing  of  the  hair;  another  managed  the  perfumes ; 
a  third  difpofed  of  the  jewels,  as  fancy  or  famicn 
directed;  a  fourth  laid  on  the  paint  and  colmetics: 
all  thefe,  and  feveral  others,  had  names  exprciTive  of 
their  different  employments:  but  befides  thefe, 
whofe  bufinefs  it  was  to  put  their  hands  to  the  labour 
of  the  toilette,  there  were  others,  who,  acting  in  a 
ftation  more  exalted,  only  attended  to  give  their  opi- 
nion and  advice,  to  declare  what  colours  molt  fuited 
the  complexion,  and  what  method  of  dreiTmg  gave 
the  greateft  additional  luftre  to  the  charms  of  nature. 
To  this  important  council  of  the  toilette  we  have  no 
account  of  the  male  fex  being  ever  admitted :  this 
ufeful,  though  perhaps  indelicate  invention  was  re- 
ferred for  the  ladies  of  Paris,  who  wifely  conlidcrin^, 
that  as  they  drefs  only  for  the  men,  the  men  mud  be 
the  bed  judges  of  what  will  pleaie  themfelves. 

As  the  loves  and  the  graces  more  particularly  refide 
in  the  face,  the  Roman  ladies  were  hardly  more  at- 
tentive to  the  face  itfelf,  than  to  the  decorations  that 
furrounded  it ;  they  had  combs  of  box  and  of  ivory 
for  the  hair,  the  curls  of  which  they  fattened  with 
gold  and  filver  pins;  befides  thefe,  they  commonly 
duck  into  their  hair,  pins  fet  with  pearl,  and  plait- 
ed it  with  chains  and  rings  of  gold,  or  with  purple 
or  white  ribbons,  mining  with  jewels  and  precious 
ftones ;  they  had  alfo  in  their  ears,  rings  of  gold, 
loaded  with  pearl,  or  other  jewels.  The  modern 
gigantic  head-drefs  of  the  prefent  time,  with  all  its 
combs,  and  wool,  and  curls,  is  not  the  invention  of 
this  age ;  it  is  at  lead  as  old  as  the  times  we  are  deli- 
neating: the  Roman  ladies,  by  the  aiiiilance  of  bor- 
rowed hair  or  woo!,    decorated  their  heads  with 


10S  THE  HISTORY 

fcreffes,  knots,  and  curls,  all  fo  varioufly  difpofed, 
and  in  fo  many  different  (lories  one  above  another, 
that  the  whole  looked  like  a  regular  piece  of  archi- 
tecture: nor  was  it  always  neceffary  that  a  lady 
fhould  fpend  her  precious  time  in  fitting  to  have  her 
upper  apartments  built  upon  in  this  manner ;  the 
Romans,  as  well  as  the  moderns,  knew  how  to  min- 
gle convenience  with,  folly,  they  could  purchafe  in 
the  (hops,  as  at  prefent,  a  head-drefs  ready  built, 
which  they  had  only  the  trouble  to  clap  on.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  mention  the  various  forms  in 
which  thefe  voluminous  head-dreffes  were  conftruct- 
ed  ;  fuffice  it  to  fay,  that  there  were  fome  modes  of 
dreffing  the  head  which  were  confidered  as  diftin- 
guifhing  marks  of  modefty  and  virtue,  while  others 
were  as  ftrong  indiaitions  of  lewdnefs  and  debau- 
chery. 

But  the  difpofmg  of  the  hair  in  various  forms  and 
figures  ;  the  interweaving  it  with  ribbons,  jewels, 
and  gold  ;  were  not  the  only  methods  they  made 
ufe  of  to  make  it  agreeable  to  tafte  ;  light-coloured 
hair  had  the  preference  of  all  others  ;  both  men  and 
women  therefore  dyed  their  hair  of  this  colour,  then 
perfumed  it  ,with  fweet-fcented  effences,  and  pow- 
dered it  with  gold  dud  ;  a  cuftom  of  the  higheft  ex- 
travagance, which  the  Romans  brought  from  Afia, 
and  which,  according  to  Jofephus,  was  praclifed 
among  the  Jews.  White  hair-powder  was  not  then 
invented,  nor  did  the  ufe  of  it  come  into  famion  till 
towards  the  end  of  the  fixteenth  century  ;  the  firfl 
\\  rite*  who  mentions  it  is  L'Etoile,  who  relates,  that 
in  the  year  1593,  the  Nuns  walked  the  llreets  of 
Paris  curled  and  powdered  ;  from  that  time  the  cuf- 
tom  of  powdering  has  become  fo  common,  that  in 
molt  places  of  Europe,  but  efpecially  in  France,  it 


OF  WOMEN.  109 

is  ufed  by  both  fexes,  and  by  people  of   all   ages, 
ranks  and  conditions. 

Such  were  the  ornaments  with  which  the  Roman 
ladies  furrounded  the  face ;  thoie  of  the  face  itfelf 
confided  of  cofmetics,  paints,  and  even  palt.es  ;  of 
the  cofmetics,  it  would  be  fuperfluous  to  give  any  ac- 
count, as  it  is  prefumed  modern  invention  has  fur- 
nifhed  the  prefent  times  with  fuch  as  are  much  pre- 
ferable. Chalk  and  white  lead  were  then  ufed  as 
paints,  for  we  are  told  by  Martial,  that  Fabula  was 
afraid  of  the  rain,  on  account  of  the  chalk  on  her 
face  ;  and  Sabella  of  the  Sun,  becaufe  of  the  cerufe 
with  which  me  was  painted:  the  famous  Poppsea, 
who  was  firft  the  miflrefs,  and  afterwards  the  wife  of 
Nero,  made  ufe  of  an  unctuous  paint  which  harden- 
ed upon  the  face,  and  was  left  there  till  me  chofe  to 
take  it  off  by  warm  milk  ;  its  effects  were  to  foften 
the  fkin,  and  improve  the  complexion  ;  and  as  it 
originated  from  an  emprefs,  it  foon  became  fo  fafhion- 
able  at  Rome,  that  it  was  ufed  almoft  by  every  wo- 
man when  at  home,  and,  in  the  common  phrafe  of 
the  times,  was  called  the  domeftic  face,  and  if  we  may 
credit  Juvenal,  the  only  one  which  frequently  was 
known  to  the  hufband,  the  natural,  or  more  charm- 
ing one  which  it  covered,  being  referved  for  occafi- 
onal  lovers.  In  order  alfo  to  rectify  what  they  fup- 
pofed  nature  had  made  amifs,  they  had  depilatory 
plaiilers  to  take  off  fuperfluous  hairs  from  the  eye- 
brows, or  other  parts  of  the  face,  where  they  judg- 
ed that  they  were  imperfections ;  nor  was  the  art  of 
painting,  and  otherwife  making  artificial  eye-brows, 
unknown  to  them.  The  teeth,  we  may  readily  be- 
lieve, were  alfo  an  object  of  much  attention  ;  they 
were  not  only  cleaned  and  whitened  by  a  variety  of 
methods,  but  artificial  ones  were  placed  in  the  room 
of  fuch  as  age  or  accident  had  deilroyed  ;  but  the 

VOL.  IT.  P 


no  THE  HISTORY 

materials  of  'which  they  were  made  feem  not  to  have 
been  judicioufly  chofen.  '  Thou  haft  only  three 
teeth,'  fays  Martial  to  Maxima,  '  and  thefe  are  of 
box,  varnifhed  over.'  But  With  all  this  art,  there 
were  fome  defects  for  which  they  were  not  provided 
with  any  remedy  :  c  If,'  fays  the  fame  poet  to  La?- 
lia,  c  thou  art  not  afhamedto  make  ufe  of  borrowed 
teeth  and  hair,  yet  ft  ill  thou  muft  be  embarraffed  ; 
What  wilt  thou  do  for  an  eye,  there  are  none  to  be 
bought  ?  Had  the  unfortunate  Lcelia  lived  in  our 
more  inventive  days,  even  this  defect  might  have  been 
fupplied' ;  though  perhaps  an  eye  made  by  the  Ba- 
ron de  Wenfel,  is  not  altogether  fo  killing  as  one 
fabricated  by  nature.  To  mm  up  all,  the  Roman 
ladies  took  great  care  that  their  fkins  mould  be  kept 
perfectly  clean  and  fweet,  by  a  conilant  practice  of 
bathing  ;  and  fome  of  them,  not  contented  with 
cammon  water  for  this  purpofe,  ufed  to  mix  it  with 
a  variety  of  detergent  or  fweet-fcented  ingredients  : 
Poppcea,  whom  we  have  before  mentioned,  had 
every  day  the  milk  of  five  hundred  affes  made  into 
a  bath,  which  (he  fuppofed  gave  her  ll.in  a  foftnefs 
and  polifh  beyond  that  of  any  other  woman. 

In  the  earlier  periods  of  the  Roman  republic,  as 
among  every  uncultivated  people,  there  was  but  lit- 
tle difference  between  the  drefs  of  the  men  and  the 
women, the  toga  being  the  common  garment  of  both ; 
at  length,  however,  a  difference  was  introduced, 
and  the  garment  called  Stola  became  the  diitinction 
of  the  women,  as  the  toga  was  of  the  men.  It 
would  be  dry  and  infipid  to  give  a  minute  detail  of 
the  form  and  faihion  of  thefe  and  feveral  other  kinds 
of  drefs  ufed  by  the  Romans,  a  much  more  adequate 
idea  of  which  can  be  formed  by  a  fingle  glance  at  a 
butt  or  drawing,  than  by  the  moil  accurate  defcrip- 
tion.     "We  mail,  therefore,  only  obferve,  that  the 


OF  WOMEN.  in 

moll  common  materials  of  which  their  clothes  were 
compofed,  were  wool  and  flax.;  materials  lefs  fine 
indeed  than  thofe  we  have  at  prefent,  but  to  firpply 
that  defect,  they  were  richly  embroidered,  and  fre- 
quently loaded  with  different  kinds  of  jewels.  Lin- 
nen  only  became  known  to  the  Romans  in  the  time  of 
the  Emperors;  and,  perhaps,  nearly  about  the  fame 
time,  the  ufe  of  filk  was  introduced  among  them; 
but  it  was  long  fo  fcarce  and  expenfive,  that  a  imaii 
quantity  of  it  was  only  mixed  with  wool  or  flax  in 
the  compofition  of  their  fineit  fluffs.  Hcliogabalus 
is  the  firil  on  record  who  had  a  robe  made  entirely 
of  filk.  At  that  time  it  mull  have  been  exceedingly 
dear,  for  even  more  than  fifty  years  afterwards  it 
was  fold  for  its  weight  in  gold;  as  we  learn  from  the 
anfwer  of  Aurelian  to  his  wife,  when  me  deiired  him 
to  let  her  have  a  filk  mantle,  '  I  {hall  take  care,' 
faid  he,  '  not  to  buy  threads  for  their  weight  in 
e  gold.' 

As  filk  is  the  mod  beautiful  and  elegant-material 
which  has  ever  been  made  ufe  of  to  adorn  their  fair 
forms  whofe  hillory  we  are  writing,  we  hope  our  rea- 
ders will  not  confider  a  fnort  account  of  it  as  foreign 
to  our  purpofe.  Silk  is  faid  to  have  been  brought 
from  Perfia  into  Greece  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  years  before  Ghrilt,  and  from  India  to  Rome 
in  the  year  two  hundred  and  ieventy-four  after  Chriil. 
During  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  a  law  was  made  in  the 
fenate,  forbidding  men  to  debafe  themfelves  by  wear- 
ing filk,  which  was  fit  only  for  women.  It  was  in 
thefe  days  fuppofed  to  grow  like  cotton  upon  trees. 
In  the  year  five  hundred  and  fifty-five,  two  monks 
brought  from  Cerinda,  in  the  Ealt  Indie?,  to  Con- 
flantinople,  the  eggs  of  fome  filk-worms,  which  ha- 
ving hatched  in  a  dunghill,  they  fed  the  young  infers 
with  mulberry  leaves,  and  by  this  management  they 


ii2  THE  HISTORY 

foon  multiplied  to  fuch  a  degree,  that  manufactures 
of  fUk  were  erected  at  Conftantionple,  at  Athens, 
at  Thebes,  and  at  Borinth.  In  the  year  eleven  hun- 
dred and  thirty,  Roger,  king  of  Scicily,  brought 
manufacturers  of  filk  from  Greece,  and  fettled  them 
at  Palermo,  where  they  taught  the  Sicilians  the  art 
of  breeding  the  filk  worms,  and  of  fpinning  and 
weaving  the  filk.  From  Sicily,  the  art  was  carried 
into  Italy,  from  thence  to  Spain  :  and  a  little  before 
the  time  of  Francis  the  firft,  it  was  brought  to  the 
fouth  of  France.  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France  was 
at  great  pains  to  introduce  manufactures  of  filk  into 
his  kingdom,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  favourite 
minifter  the  Duke  de  Sully,  and  by  his  perfeverance, 
at  lad.  brought  them  to  a  tolerable  perfection.  In 
the  year  twelve  hundred  and  eighty-fix,  the  ladies 
of  forne  noblemen  firft.  appeared  in  filk  mantles  in 
England,  at  a  ball  in  Kennehvorth  Caftle  in  War- 
wickfhire.  In  the  year  fixteen  hundred  and  twenty, 
the  art  of  weaving  filk  was  firft  introduced  into  Eng- 
land, and  in  the  year  feventeen  hundred  and  nine- 
teen, Lombe's  machine  for  throwing  filk  was  erected 
at  Derby,  a  piece  of  mechanifm  which  well  deferves 
the  attention  and  applaufe  of  every  beholder  ;  it 
contains  twenty-fix  thoufand  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
fix  wheels,  the  whole  of  which  receive  their  motion 
from  one  wheel  that  is  turned  by  water.  Such  was 
the  introduction  of  filk,  but  it  continued  long  too 
icarce  and  dear  to  be  applied  to  common  ufe.  Henry 
the  Second  of  France  was  the  firft  in  Europe  who 
wore  filk  ftockings  ;  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Se- 
venth, no  filk  ftockings  had  ever  appeared  in  Eng- 
land ;  Edward  the  Sixth,  his  fon  and  fuccefibr,  was 
prefented  by  Sir  Thomas  Grefham  with  the  firft  pair 
that  ever  were  worn  in  this  country  ;  and  the  pre- 
fent  was  at  that  time  much  talked  of  as  valuable  and 
uncommon.     Queen   Elizabeth  was   alfo  prefented 


OF  WOMEN.  113 

with  a  pair  of  black  filk  {lockings  by  her  filk-woman, 
and  was  fo  fond  of  them,  that  we  are  told  by  Hol- 
well,  flie  never  wore  any  other  kind  afterwards. — 
From  thefe  times,  however,  filk  has,  in  every  fhape, 
become  fo  uncommon  in  this  country,  that  it  is  now 
no  longer,  as  formerly,  the  diflinguifhing  badge  of 
rank  and  opulence,  but  to  be  found  among  people 
of  every  flation,  from  the  throne  to  the  dung-hill. 

But  to  return  to  our  fubject  The  mofl  common, 
as  well  as  mofl  honourable  colour  among  the  Ro- 
mans, except  the  purple,  only  allotted  to  their 
emperors,  was  white.  It  was  long  before  the  fafhion 
of  wearing  garments  of  various  colours  was  intro- 
duced among  them  ;  white  was  not  only  the  common 
colour  of  the  garments  worn  by  the  ladies,  but  alfo 
of  their  fhoes,  during  the  time  of  the  republic. 
Aurelian  granted  them  a  power  of  wearing  red  ones; 
and,  at  the  fame  time,  prohibited  all  the  men  from 
that  privilege,  except  himfelf  and  fucceffors  in  the 
empire. 

Shoes,  with  high  heels,  were  firfl  invented  at 
Rome  ;  Auguflus  wore  them,  in  order  to  make 
himfelf  appear  taller  ;  the  priefls  put  them  on  at 
their  folemn  facrifices,  and  ladies  of  difiin&ion  at 
balls  and  public  meetings.  The  fhoes  of  great  men 
were  adorned  with  gold,  and  we  have  reafon  to 
believe,  though  it  is  not  recorded,  that  the  ladies 
copied  their  example.  Iieliogabalus  adorned  his 
fhoes  with  precious  {tones,  finely  engraved  by  the 
greateft  artiils  ;  the  fucceeding  emperors,  imitating 
the  pattern  he  had  fhewn  them,  loaded  their  fhoes 
with  a  variety  of  ornaments  ;  and  had  the  Roman 
eagle,  for  the  mofl  part,  embroidered  on  them, 
ftudded  round  with  pearls  and  diamonds ;  but  we 
fhall  ceafe  to  wonder  at  this  foolifh  extravagance  of 


ii4  THE  HISTORY 

the  emperors,  when  we  are  told,  that  even  private 
citizens  of  Rome,  Deficits  the  ornaments  on  the 
upper  parts  of  their  lboes,  had  the  fples  of  them 
fometimts  made  of  o'old. 

We  have  already  feen,  that  the  ancient  inhabi- 
tants of  the  North  had  a  much  greater  regard  for 
their  women  than  any  other  people,  who  were 
equally  rude  and  uncultivated  :  it  would,  therefore, 
be  offering  an  indignity  to  thefe  women,  to  fuppofe, 
that  they,  in  their  turn,  did  not  endeavour  to  pleafe 
and  become  agreeable  to  the  men,  by  fuch  arts  of 
drefs  and  ornament  as  were  then  known  among 
them,  as  well  as  by  the  virtues  of  chaftity  and  obe- 
dience, for  which  they  were  fo  remarkably  diftin- 
guimed.  We  are  not,  however,  to  fuppofe,  that 
in  thefe  articles  we  mail  find  them  equal  to  many 
of  the  ancient  nation0,  we  have  hitherto  mentioned. 
The  countries  they  inhabited,  in  themfelves  barren 
and  unhofpitable,  hardly  afforded  any  thing  to  pam- 
per luxury:  all  the  neceffary  aris  were  either  totally 
unknown,  or  only  in  a  ftate  of  infancy;  of  the  ele- 
gant ones,  the  northerns  were  entirely  ignorant. 
They  were  conllantly,  it  is  true,  at  war  ;  but  thefe 
wars  were  not,  like  thofe  of  Rome,  undertaken  to 
fubdue  neighbouring  nations ;  and  by  plundering 
them,  to  accumulate  the  means  of  fplcndour  and 
magnificence ;  but  generally  either  to  revenge  pri- 
vate quarrels,  or  carry  home  with  them  a  load  of 
provifions  to  be  wailed  in  riotous  fcftivity.  From 
all  thefe  caufes,  the  materials  which  furniihed  the 
female  toilette  muft  have  been  but  few  and  inele- 
gant. The  hair,  which  when  properly  managed  is, 
without  any  ornament,  one  of  the  greatefl  beauties 
of  the  fex,  feems  to  have  been  the  object  of  their 
chief  attention.  It  was  fometimes  tied  and  knotted 
on  the  crown  of  their  heads,  from  whence  falling 


OF  WOM-EN.  i*$ 

down,  it  hang  negligently  on  their  backs  and  moul- 
ders. Among  fome  tribes,  they  had  acquired  the 
art  of  curiiag  it;  but  among  the  greateft  part/  it 
flowed  loofe  and  carelefdy  in  the  wind,  A  linen 
fhift,  without  any  fleeces,  and  over  this  a  cloak  OF 
the  lkins  of  fuch  animals  as  their  hulbands  had  killed 
in  hunting,  feems  to  have  been  their  mod  magnificent 
finery.  Where  nature  has  been  liberal,  (he  requires 
but  little  affiftance  from  art.  Such  was  the  eafe 
with  the  women  of  the  nations  we  are  now  confider- 
ing;  they  were  generally  beautiful,  having  lively 
blue  eyes,  large  but  regular  features,  a  fine  com- 
plexion, and  a  (kin,  which,  for  whitenefs,  equalled 
the  mow  upon  their  mountains.  Their  ftature  was 
tail,  their  fhape  eafy  and  majeftic ;  and,  to  crown 
the  whole,  this  majefty  was  blended  with  all  that 
foftnefs  which  fo  peculiarly  characlerifes  the  fex,  and 
which  renders  them  at  once  the  objects  of  bur  ad- 
miration and  our  love.  So  accomplished,  they  had 
little  occafion  for  the  toilette,  and  they  made  as  lit- 
tle ufe  of  it ;  where  nature  had  done  fo  much,  art 
would  only  have  fpoiled  the  work. 

We  mall  not  endeavour  to  develope  the  various 
modes  oF  drefs,  which  were  the  offspring  of  fancy, 
fafhion,  or  neceffity,  among  the  defendants  of  thele 
northern  nations,  of  whom  \re  have  now  been  (peak- 
ing, in  thofe  periods,  called  the  M'iddle  Ages,  or 
alter  they  had  overturned  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
made  th'rnfelves  mailers  of- the  greateft  part  of  Eu- 
rope. In  the  hiflory  o:  France  we  have  the  follow- 
ing ike.tches  of  it,  after  en  .;  rating  the  various 
changes  which  the  dress  of  the  men  had  undergone. 
4  The  drefs  of  the  &dfes,  it  may  be  fuppofed,  fays 
6  the  Author,  had  likewise  its  revolutions,  They 
c  leem,  for  near  nine  :  year?,  not    to  have 

'been   much    taken   up   wiehoirflaine&ts ;    nothing 


n6  THE  HISTORY 

*  could  require  lefs  time  or  nicety  than  their  head- 
'  drefs,  and  the  difpofition  of  their  hair.  Every 
(  part  of  their  linen  was  quite  plain,  but  at  the  fame 
'  time,  extremely  fine.  Laces  were  long  unknown. 
'  Their  gowns,  on  the  right  fide  of  which  was  em- 

*  broidered  their  huibands*  coat  of  arms,  and  on 
6  the  left  that  of  their  own  family,  were  fo  clofe,  as 

*  to  fliew  all  the  delicacy  of  their  fhape,  and  came 
6  up  fo  high,  as  to  cover  their  whole  bread  up  to 
'  the  neck.  The  habit  of  widows  had  very  much 
'  that  of  our  nuns.  It  was  not  until  Charles  the 
c  fixth  that  they  began  to  expofe  their  moulders. — 
'  The  gallantry  of  Charles  the  Seventh's  court  bro't 
'  in  the  ufe  of  bracelets,  necklaces,  and  rings. — 
'  Queen  Ann  de  Bretagne  defpifed  thofe  trinkets, 
'  and  Catherine  de  Medicis  made  it  her  whole  bufi- 
'  nefs  to  invent  new.  Caprice,  luxury,  and  vanity, 
'  have  at  length  brought  them  to  their  prefent  enor- 
'  mity.' 

To  this  account  we  {hall  add  fome  remarks  on  the 
drefs  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  Danes.  They  con- 
fidered  their  hair  as  one  of  their  greatefi:  perfonal 
beauties,  and  took  great  care  to  drefs  it  to  the  ut- 
moft  advantage.  Young  ladies  wore  it  loofe,  and 
flowing  in  ringlets  over  their  moulders;  but  after 
marriage  they  cut  it  morter,  tied  it  up,  and  covered 
it  with  a  head-drefs,  according  to  the  fafhion  of  the 
times;  but  to  have  the  hair  cut  entirely  off,  was  a 
difgracc  of  fuch  a  nature,  that  it  was  even  thought 
a  punifhment  not  in  adequate  to  the  crime  of  adul- 
tery: fo  great,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  was  the  value 
fet  upon  the  hair  by  both  fexes,  that,  as  a  piece  of 
the  mod  peculiar  mortification,  it  was  ordered  by 
the  canons  of  the  church,  that  the  clergy  fhould 
keep  their  hair  fhort,  and  (have  the  crown  of  their 
head;  and  that  they  fhould  not,  upon  any  pretence 


OF  WOMEN.  117 

whatever,  endeavour  to  keep  the  part  To  flaaved 
from  the  public  view.  Many  of  the  clergy  of  thefe 
times,  finding  themfelves  fo  peculiarly  mortified,  and 
perhaps  fo  eafily  diftinguifhed  from  all  other  people 
by  this  particularity,  as  to  be  readily  detected,  when 
they  committed  any  of  the  follies  or  crimes  to  which 
human  nature  is  in  every  fituation  fometimes  liable, 
endeavoured  to  perfuade  mankind,  that  long  hair 
was  criminal,  in  order  to  reduce  the  whole  to  a 
fimilarity  with  themfelves.  Amongfl  thefe,  St. 
Wulfhin  eminently  diftinguifhed  himfelf;  f  He  rebu- 
ked,' fays  William  of  Malmfbury,  s  the  wicked  of 
c  all  ranks  with  great  boldnefs;  but  was  particularly 
'  fevere  upon  thofe  who  were  proud  of  their  long 
c  hair.  When  any  of  thefe  vain  people  bowed  their 
6  heads  before  him,  to  receive  his  bleihng;  before 
*  he  gave  it  he  cut  a  lock  from  their  hair,  with  a  iharp 
6  penknife,  which  he  carried  about  him  for  that  pur- 
c  pofe;  and  commanded  them,  by  way  of  penance 
4  for  their  fms,  to  cut  all  the  reft:  in  the  fame  manner: 
'  if  any  of  them  refufed  to  comply  with  his  command, 
'  he  reproached  them  for  their  effeminacy,  and 
f  denounced  the  mod  dreadful  judgments  againft 
'  them.'  Such,  however,  was  the  value  of  the 
hair  in  thofe  days,  that  many  rather  fubmitted  to 
his  cenfures,  than  part  with  it;  and  fuch  was  the 
folly  of  the  church,  and  of  this  faint  in  particular, 
.that  the  mod  fo'ernn  judgments  were  denounced 
ao-ainft  multiudes,  for  no  other  crime  than  not  m.ik- 
ing  ufe  of  penknives  and  feiifars,  to  cut  oil'  an  orna- 
ment beftowed  by  nature. 

We  have  already  feen,  that  the  French  ladies,  in 
the  time  of  Charlemagne,  were  acquainted  with  the 
ufe  of  linen ;  nor  were  the  Anglo-Saxons  ilrangers 
to  it,  as  appears  from  feveral  anecdotes  of  their  hif- 
tory;  and   particularly  from  this,  That  the  clergy 

vol.  11.  (^ 


ii3  THE  HISTORY 

frequently  ordered  the  mod  obftinate  finners  to  wear 
woollen  fhirts  next  to  their  bodies,  as  an  extraordi- 
nary penance;  it  would  feem,  however,  that  {lock- 
ings, and  other  kinds  of  covering  for  the  legs,  were 
then  but  little  ufed;  as  the  clergy,  who  had  the 
wealth,  as  well  as  power  of  thefe  times  in  their 
hands,  frequently,  with  naked  legs  approached  the 
altar,  and  celebrated  mafs  ;  till  the  year  735,  when 
a  canon  was  made  in  thefe  terms  :  '  Let  no  minifter 
'  of  the  altar  prefume  to  approach  it,  to  celebrate 
c  mafs,  with  naked  legs,  left  his  filthinefs  appear, 
'  and  God  be  offended.'  Some  perfons  of  condition, 
however,  had,  in  thefe  times,  a  kind  of  covering 
for  their  legs,  which  was  faftened  on  with  bandages, 
wrapped  about  the  leg,  from  the  foot  to  the  knee, 
as  appears  from  the  figures  of  Edward  the  Confef- 
for,  Guido,  count  of  Ponthieu,  and  fome  others,  in 
the  famous  tapeftry  of  Bayenx ;  one  of  the  mod  va- 
luable monuments  of  the  times  we  are  confidering. 
But  though  many  of  the  figures  of  this  tapeftry  are 
without  ftockings ;  yet  neither  in  this,  nor  any  other 
of  the  monuments,  which  reprefent  thedrefs  of  thefe 
times,  are  there  any  without  fhoes  ;  though  it  would 
feem,  that  mankind  were  then  fo  little  acquainted 
with  the  proper  materials  for  this  purpofe,  that  they 
generally  made  them  of  wood.  That  the  common 
people  mould  not  be  able  to  afford  any  other  than 
wooden  fhoes,  in  periods  fo  diftant,  does  not  fur- 
pi  ife  us;  but  we  are  rather  aftonifhed,  when  we  are 
told,  that  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  fome  of 
the  greateft  princes  in  Europe,  were  only  equipped 
in  thi;  manner;  fure  indications,  that  the  invention 
of  the  times  had  not  then  difcovered  any  thing  that 
was  more  proper  for  the  purpole. 

The  diftinguifliing  the  two  fexes  from  each  other, 
by  the  materials  andfafhion  of  their  drefs,  is  a  car- 


OF  WOMEN.  119 

tain  fign,  that  cultivation  is  arrived  at  no  inconfide- 
rable  length:  among  the  ancient  Germans  there  was, 
in  this  article,  but  little  difference.  Among  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  it  confuted  only  of  a  few  particulars; 
the  mod  material  of  which  was,  that  the  mantles  oi 
the  women  flowed  down  alirioft  to  the  ground, 
whereas  thofe  of  the  men  were  considerably  fhorter. 
Thofe  people,  as  well  as  the  Danes,  feem  to  have 
been  fond  of  every  kind  of  ornament,  and  particu- 
larly of  gold  chains  and  bracelets:  gold  chains  were 
worn  by  officers  of  high  rank  as  well  civil  as  military, 
and  being  given  by  the  fovereigns,  theie  foVereigns 
were  on  that  account  frequently  called  by  the  poets, 
givers  of  gold  chains.  Bracelets  of  gold,  or  other 
precious  materials,  are  an  ornament  now  folely  ap- 
propriated to  women.  Among  the  Danes,  however, 
they  were  indifcriminately  the  ornaments  of  either 
fex;  Earl  Goodwin  prefented  king  Kardicanute  with 
gold  bracelets  for  his  arms,  and  fo  facred  were  orna- 
ments of  this  kind  then  eftemeed,  that  they  frequently 
fwore  by  them,  and  are  laid  to  have  held  an  oath  of 
this  nature  as  tremenduous  and  inviolable,  as  the 
gods  of  the  pagans  did  that  which  was  fworn  by  the 
Styx. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  there  prevailed  among  man- 
kind fuch  an  universal  diftrurl  of  each  other,  owing 
to  the  frequency  of  crimes  and  the  wcakneis  of  laws, 
that  there  was  but  little  mutual  intercourfe  or  focial 
communication  among  the  inhabitants  of  Europe. 
Neighbours  were  frequently  as  much  afraid  of  each 
other  as  the  people  of  different  nations  are  at  prefent 
when  engaged  in  a  war.  On  this  account  there 
were  none  of  thofe  focial  meetings  which  have  lince 
called  great  numbers  of  both  fexes  together;  hence 
neither  fex  had  then  any  other  motive  to  induce 
them  to  drefs  than  the  love  of  cleaniinefs,    and  the 


120  THE  HISTORY 

innate  defire  of  finery.  When  the  inftitution  of 
chivalry  ftafted  up,  it  gave  a  happy  turn  to  this 
itidenefs  of  manners;  it  afforded  more  protection  to 
the  women,  and  confcquently  enabled  them  to  fee 
more  company;  it  introduced  numerous  meetings  at 
tilts  and  tournaments,  where  the  ladies  were  confti- 
tnted  the  judges  of  valour  and  rewarders  of  the  vali- 
ant, where  their  charms  were  fuppofed  to  add  cou- 
rage to  the  hearts,  and  great  ftrength  to  the 
arms  of  their  admirers,  and  where  they  were  con- 
iequently  furniihed  with  the  very  ftrongeft  mo- 
tives to  decorate  and  embelliih  their  perfons.  But 
befides  tilts  tournaments,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  there 
arofe  alfo  in  Europe  another  kind  of  public  meet- 
ings, called  Fairs,  to  which  both  fexes,  and  all  ranks 

reforted. While  a  mutual    diffidence  and   the 

greateft  diftruft  diffufed  their  baleful  influence, 
and  there  was  hardly  any  fecurity  from  rapine  and 
murder,  but  in  the  cailles  and  llrong  holds  of  the 
barons,  trade  and  commerce  were  of  confequence  in 
the  moft  languid  Hate;  to  revive  them  in  feme  mea- 
fure,  fairs  were  firft  inftituted,  where  merchants  and 
traders  brought  their  commodities  and  expofed  them 
to  fale;  but  a  bare  fale  of  goods  for  which  there  was 
but  little  demand,  and  Hill  lei's  money  to  purchafe 
with,  did  net  at  firft  anfwer  the  end  of  drawing 
many  people  together;  the  venders  in  time,  to  allure 
the  multitude,  befides  the  expofure  of  their  goods, 
entertained  them  with  a  variety  of  public  ihows  and 
diverfions,  and  from  that  time  their  fairs  became  the 
fafhionable  places  of  rendezvous,  and  were  not  only 
another  motive  for  the  fex  to  drefs  and  endeavour  to 
appear  to  advantage,  but  alfo  afforded  them  the 
materials  for  that  important  purpofe. 


OF  WOMEN.  121 


CHAPTER     XXII. 


The  fame  Subjecl  continued. 


E  have  already,  in  treating  on  the 
fubject  of  drefs,  had  occafion  to  give  fome  account 
of  the  ancient  fplendour  and  magnificence  of  the 
Eafterns  ;  let  us  now  take  a  fhort  view  of  their  pre- 
fent  condition,  which  we  (hall  fee  is  ftiil  governed 
by  the  fame  cuftoms,  and  influenced  by  the  fame 
principles  ;  for  we  find  them  at  this  day  fond  of  that 
lupine  indolence,  and  of  that  pageantry  and  mow, 
which  fo  ftrongly  marked  their  character  from  the 
earlieft  periods  in  which  hiftory  gives  an  account  of 
them. 

Such  is  the  conftitution  of  the  two  fexes,  that 
the  whole  of  their  anions  are  guided  and  influenced 
by  each  other.  The  women  drefs  and  ufe  every 
means  to  appear  beautiful  and  engaging  in  order  to 
pleafe  the  men,  and  the  men  affume  bravery  and 
every  mafculine  accomplifhment  in  their  power  in 
order  to  pleafe  and  render  themfelves  acceptable  to 
the  women.  In  countries  where  the  fexes  are  allow- 
ed in  a  free  and  unreitrained  manner  to  keep  com- 
pany with  each  other,  fuch  mutual  efforts  on  both 
fides,  as  they  appear  to  be  the  effects  of  that  com- 
pany, pafs  without  exciting  any  wonder ;  but 
when  we  confider  that  in  the  Eaft  women  fhould  take 
the  trouble  to  decorate  and  adorn  themfelves,  when 
they  are  certain  that  thefe  decorations  and  orna- 
ments cannot  be  feen  by  the  other  fex,  we  are  aito- 
nifhed.     That  women,  however,  do  fo,  is  an  in- 


122  THE  HISTORY 

contcftible  fact ;  and  fo  powerful  in  the  female 
bread  is  the  pafiion  of  being  admired,  that  fliould 
a  woman,  as  it  frequently  happens  in  Afia,  have 
only  once  in  twenty  years  a  chance  of  being  feen 
and  exciting  that  pafiion,  fne  would  every  day  du- 
ring that  time,  ufe  every  poflible  endeavour  to  put 
herfelf  in  a  condition  to  do  fo.  The  Abbe  Lambert, 
in  his  account  of  the  manners  and  cuftoms  of  the 
Eafl,  obferves  of  the*  Chinefe  women,  that  though 
they  are  certain  that  they  can  be  feen  by  no.'e  but 
their  female  domeftics,  yet  they  every  morning  pafs 
feveral  hours  in  drefhng  and  adorning  themfelves. 

Though  the  Chinefe  are  perhaps  the  mod:  regu- 
larly ceconomical  people  on  the  globe,  yet  the  drefs 
of  their  women,  and  particularly  the  ornaments  of 
their  heads,  are  flrong  inflances  of  that  love  of  finery 
and  mow  which  has  ever  prevailed  in  the  Eaft.  The 
head- drefs  of  their  ladies  commonly  confifls  of  feve- 
ral ringlets  of  hair  varioufly  difpofed,  and  every 
where  ornamented  with  fmall  bunches  of  gold  or 
filver  flowers.  Some  of  them  adorn  their  heads  with 
the  figure  of  a  fabulous  bird  made  of  gold  or  filver, 
according  to  the  quality  of  the  perlon,  which  has  a 
grotefque  though  magnificent  appearance.  Ladies 
of  the  firft  rank  fometimes  have  feveral  of  thofe  birds 
fattened  together  fo  as  to  form  the  figure  of  a  crown, 
the  wcrkmanfhip  of  which  is  exquiikcly  curious. — 
Young  ladies  generally  wear  a  kind  of  crown  made 
of  pafteboard,  covered  with  filk,  and  ornamented 
with  pearls,  diamonds,  and  other  jewels ;  and  on 
the  top  of  the  head  a  bunch  of  flowers,  either  natural 
or  artificial,  in  the  middle  of  which  is  iluck  fmall 
wires  with  fparkling  jewels  fattened  on  their  points. 
Such  is  the  attention  thefe  women  pay  to  the  drefs  of 
their  heads,  though  fecluded  from  all  communica- 
tion with  the  greater  part  of  that  fex  whom  they 


OF  WOMEN.  123 

would  naturally  whh  to  pleafe  by  it.  The  drefs  of 
their  bodies  is  of  all  others  the  moll  clumfy  and  ine- 
legant, though  often  made  of  the  richefl  materials, 
and  decorated,  or  rather  loaded,  with  the  moil  conly 
ornaments;  our  readers,  however,  will  form  a  bet- 
ter idea  of  it,  by  looking  at  a  Chinefe  figure,  than 
we  could  convey  by  the  molt  laboured  defcription. 

In  that  extenfive  part  of  the  Eaft  Indies  formerly 
fubject  to  the  Moguls,  though  women  are,  perhaps, 
more  rigidly  confined  than  in  China,  yet  we  find  the 
fame  paffion  for  ornament ;  their  garments  are  made 
of  the  fined  filks,  richly  flowered  with  gold  and  fil- 
ver,  and  fitted  to  the  fhape  with  a  degree  of  eafe  and 
elegance,  which  ihews,  that  while  they  have  taken 
nature  for  their  model,  their  tafte  in  imitating  her  is 
far  from  being  contemptible.  About  the  middle 
they  wear  a  girdle  exqr.ifiteiy  embroidered,  at  the 
end  of  which,  where  it  is  fattened  before,  there 
hangs  a  glebe  of  gold,  or  a  large  pearl  ;  but  their 
greatefl  attention  feems  to  be  paid  to  their  hair, 
which  they  drefs  in  a  variety  of  forms,  as  pyramids, 
triangles,  crefcents,  or  in  the  figure  of  fome  favour- 
ite flower  or  ftirub  ;  this  is  done  by  gold  buckles 
and  wires  intermixed  with  diamonds,  and  is  a  work 
of  much  time  and  no  lefs  dexterity,  though  after  all, 
more  eafily  demolished  than  an  head-drefs  of  any 
other  fafhioo.  Befides  thefe  tedious  and  expenfive 
methods,  they  have  a  lefs  difficult  and  more  common 
way  of  dividing  their  hair  into  treffes,  which  flow 
with  carelefs  eafe  upon  their  fhoulders,  and  to  which 
they  tie  precious  ftories,  and  little  plates  of  gold  ; 
when  thus  drefTed,  to  be  able  to  move  the  head  in 
fuch  a  manner  as  to  {hew  to  the  bell  advantage  all 
its  fplendour  and  magnificence,  is  a  female  art  not 
lefs -difficultly  attained,  than  the  proper  management 
of  the  fan  was  formerly   in  Europe',  or   the  taking 


i24  THE  HISTORY 

fnuft  with  fuch  an  air  as  to  difplay  in  the  mod  en- 
chanting manner  a  fine  hand,  and  a  finer  diamond 
ring. 

It  has  been  a  cuftom  time  immemorial,  for  wo- 
men over  the  greater!,  part  of  the  world  to  pierce 
their  ears,  in  order  to  hang  to  them  fome  trinket, 
which  either  gratified  their  vanity,  or  was  fuppofed 
to  add  fome  additional  luftre  to  their  charms;  but 
this  cuftom  of  giving  torture  by  a  ridiculous  incifion, 
and  adding  a  fuperfluous  load  to  nature,  has  not  been 
confined  to  the  ears  only,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  Eafl  had  nofe  as  well  as  ear  jewels,  and  in  feve- 
ral  parts  of  the  world  we  find  the  cuftom  continued 
to  this  day.  In  fome  parts  of  the  Indies  they  pierce 
one  noflril,  and  put  into  it  a  gold  ring,  in  which  is 
let  the  largeft  and  fineft  diamond  they  can  procure. 
Our  late  adventurers  in  queft  of  difcoveries  to  the 
South  Sea,  met  a  few  inftances  of  men  who  had 
fomething  like  a  feather  fluck  acrofs  through  both 
noftrils  ;  and  in  New  South  Wales  it  was  almofl 
common  for  the  men  to  thruft  the  bone  of  fome  ani- 
mal, five  or  fix  inches  long,  and  nearly  as  thick  as 
one's  finger,  through  their  nofes,  which  fo  filled  the 
noftrils,  that  they  not  only  fnuffled  difagreeably,  but 
were  alfo  obliged  conftantly  to  keep  their  mouths 
open  for  breath. 

To  us  Europeans,  who  have  hardly  left  any  part 
of  the  body  except  the  nofe  without  its  particular 
ornaments  and  decorations,  a  nofe  embellimed  with 
jewels,  or  other  trinkets,  has  an  exceedingly  gro- 
tefque  appearance ;  but  this  is  only  the  efteft  of 
cuftom,  from  which  the  mind  generally  imbibes  the 
ideas  of  beauty,  elegance,  and  even  of  utility  and 
nccefllty.  Thus  the  Hottentot  is  perfuaded  that 
beauty  is  greatly  augmented  by  a  proper  quantity 


OF  WOMEN.  125 

of  grcafe  and  urine.  At  Smyrna,  the  women  ima- 
gine itconfills  in  a  large  plump  fat  body,  with  pro- 
minent breads  ;  to  obtain  all  which,  they  take  a  va- 
riety of  medicines,  and  ufe  a  variety  of  fuperftitioUs 
ceremonies.  The  Dutchman  finds  elegance  in  a  large 
pair  of  trunk  breeches,  the  mifer  utility  in  that 
hoarded  ftore  which,  even  though  itarving,  he  dares 
not  make  ufe  of,  and  the  man  of  fafliion  thinks  his 
coach  almoll  as  neceffary  as  the  porter  does  his  legs 
and  fhoulders.  That  thefe  things  really  happen,  we 
need  but  rerlecl  on  what  we  feel,  on  any  remarka- 
ble change  of  fafliion  ;  how  uncouth,  how  unbe- 
coming does  the  new  one  commonly  appear,  till  it 
is  familiarized  by  cnftom,  and  as  foon  as  that  hap- 
pens, fhould  even  the  fafliion'  we  thought  fo  much 
preferable  to  it  return,  we  fhould  (land  in  need  of 
the  aid  of  cuilom  to  revive  our  former  opinion  of  it. 

But  though  both  fexes  in  fome  parts  of  the  Eafl 
Indies  adorn  their  nofes,  the  ladies  do  not  forget 
their  ears  alfo,  which  they  generally  pierce  as  in 
Europe,  and  load  with  gold  and  jewels  ;  they  like- 
wife  wear  various  kinds  of  necklaces,  bracelets,  and 
rings,  many  of  which  are  of  immenfe  value  there, 
and  would  be  iiill  more  fo  among  us ;  nor  are  they 
content  with  fuch  kinds  of  drefs  and  ornament  as 
cannot  be  miltaken  for  nature,  they  apply  them- 
felves  likewife  to  fuch  as  nearly  refembie  her,  and 
may  eaiily  be  taken  for  her  work.  They  have  a  va- 
riety of  paints,  which  they  mix  and  lay  on  with  fuch 
dexterity,  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  difcover 
them ;  thefe  they  commonly  apply  to  their  cheeks, 
and  to  their  eyes  ;  they  likewife  paint  the  extremi- 
ties of  their  nails,  but  in  this  inftance,  departing 
entirely  from  nature,  thev  lav  on  a  fine  red  to  thick 
that  on  the  flighted  view  it  appears  to  be  the  work 
of  art.     But  befides  the  arts  of  ornament  and  drefs, 

vol.  ir.  R 


i2<5  THE  HISTORY 

they  have  here,  as  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world, 
various  other  methods  of  rendering  therafelves  agree- 
able, and  attracting  attention.  In  Europe,  a  fine 
lady  fometimcs  draws  the  eye  upon  her  by  the  bril- 
liancy of  her  muff- box  ;  in  Afia,  fhe  frequently  ac- 
complishes the  fame  end  by  a  mod  liberal  ufe  of  betel, 
which  is  a  root  chewed  by  all  ranks  and  conditions, 
as  in  Europe  we  do  tobacco,  and  with  which  the 
more  highly  a  lady  is  fcentcd,  the  more  agreeable 
ihe  becomes  to  her  admirers. 

But  betel  is  not  the  only  thing  which  the  ladies 
depend  on  to  render  themielves  grateful  to  the  fen- 
fes,  they  ufe  for  this  purpofe  alfo  a  great  variety  of 
the  moft  coflly  effences  and  perfumes,  whofe  aroma- 
tic flavour  is  brought  to  the  higheil  perfection  by 
an  indulgent  climate  and  vertical  fun.  Of  thefe  they 
are  fo  exceedingly  fond,  that  the  expcnce  of  per- 
fumes often  exceeds  that  of  clothes  and  jewels  ;  for 
they  are  feldom  without  fome  perfumed  flower,  or 
fruit,  in  their  hands ;  when  they  have  none  of  thefe, 
they  hold  a  phial  of  precious  effence,  which  they, 
from  time  to  time,  fprinkle  on  their  garments,  al- 
though they  are  perfumed  afrelli  every  time  they  put 
them  on.  They  have  likewife  in  the  Eaft  a  parti- 
cular mode  of  attracting  our  fex  by  the  voluptuouf- 
nefs  of  their  figures,  by  their  manners,  and  by  their 
converfation  ;  all  of  which  are  calculated  to  excite 
pafTion  and  dcfire.  Among  the  Balliaderes,  or  dan- 
cing girls  of  the  Eaft,  we  meet  with  a  piece  of  drefs 
or  ornament,  of  a  very  particular  nature.  To  pre- 
vent their  breads  from  growing  to  large, or  ill-fhaped, 
they  enclofe  them  in  cafes  made  of  exceeding  light 
wood,  which  are  joined  together,  and  buckled  be- 
hind ;  thefe  cafes  are  fo  fmooth  and  pliable,  that 
they  yield  to  the  various  attitudes  of  the  body  with- 
out being  flattened,  or  injuring  the  delicacy  of  the 


OF  WOMEN,  127 

ikin  ;  the  outfide  of  them  is  covered  with  gold  leaf, 
and  ftudded  with  diamonds.  1  his  ornament  is  well 
calculated  to  prevent  the  laxity  induced  by  .a  hot 
climate,  and  while  it  thus  preferves  the  beauties  of 
nature,  it  does  not  fo  much  conceal  them  as  to  hin- 
der the  heavings  and  palpitations  of  the  bofom  from 
being  perceived. 

Were  we  to  furvey  all  Afia,  almoft  the, whole  of 
it  would  afford  the  ftrongeil  proofs  of  Eafrern  fpl en- 
dour  and  magnificence  ;  but  we  iliall  finifli  what  we 
had  to  lay  of  it  by  a  relation  of  the  {late  in  which  the 
Portuguefe  originally  found  Ormus,  when  they  firft 
failed  into  the  Gulph  of  Perlla.  '  The  ftreets  were 
covered  with  mats,  and  in  fome  places  with  car- 
pets ;  and  the  linen  awnings,  which  were  iufpend- 
ed  from  the  tops  of  the  houfes,  prevented  any  in- 
convenience from  the  heat  of  the  fun.  Indian  ca- 
binets, ornamented  with  gilded  vales,  or  china 
filled  with  flowering  fhaubs,  or  aromatic  plants, 
adorned  their  apartments ;  camels,  laden  with 
water,  were  Rationed  in  the  public  fquares  ;  Per- 
fian  wines,  perfumes,  and  all  the  delicacies  of  the 
table,  were  furnimed  in  the  greateil  abundance, 
and  they  had  the  mufic  of  the  Eall  in  its  higheft 
perfection.  Ormus  was  crowded  with  beautiful 
women  from  all  parts  of  Alia,  who  were  ihQrucl- 
ed  from  their  infancy  in  ail  the  arts  of  varying  and 
heightening  the  pleafures  of  voluptuous  love  : 
univerfal  opulence,  an  extennve  commerce,  a  re- 
fined luxury,  politenefs  in  the  men,  and  gallantry 
in  the  women,  united  all  their  attractions  to  make 
this  city  the  feat  of  pleafare.' 

Striking  as  this  picture  of  Afiatic  magnificence  may 
appear,  in  that  part  of  ir  which  relates  to  female  drels 
and  ornament,  it  may  be  equalled",  if  not  furpaffed, 


128  THE  HISTORY 

by  the  inhabitants  of  Condantinople;  who,  being 
originally  Afiatic,  brought  with  them  from  that  coun- 
try the  manners  and  cuftoms  which  at  prefent  pre- 
vail among  them.  The  Turkifh  drefs  of  Lady  Mon- 
tague, which  we  {hall  not  defcribe,  as  we  prefume 
the  generality  of  our  fair  readers  have  read  her  Let- 
ters, fhews,  that  the  ladies  of  Conftantinople  are 
far  from  being  deditute  of  tafte,  and  that  they  know 
how  to  join  the  elegant  with  the  fplendid  and  ufeful; 
a  circumftarice  which  appears  dill  more  plain  in  the 
defcription  of  the  drefs  of  the  fair  Fatima.  But  in 
that  which  dm  gives  of  the  habit  of  the  Sultana, 
who  had  formerly  been  the  favourite  miftrefs  of  the 
Grand  Siguier,  while  we  are  (truck  with  the  mod 
coflly  magnificence,  we  rather  form  an  idea  of  a 
woman  loaded  with  the  pageantry  of  (fate,  than 
drefled  with  eafe  or  propriety. 

Though  we  have  now  mentioned  the  Turks  who 
inhabit  a  part  of  Europe,  yet  before  we  proceed  to 
that  continent  in  general,  it  will  be  neceffary  to  take 
a  fhort  view  of  the  article  of  drefs  in  America.  Of 
all  the  people  with  which  we  are  as  yet  acquainted, 
the  inhabitants  of  this  cxtenfive  continent  fecm  to  be 
in  general  the  lead  favoured  by  nature,  and  to  have- 
made  themselves  the  lead  affiftance  by  art.  In  many 
places,  feemingly  but  a  little  raifed  in  the  faculties  of 
their  minds  above  the  beads  of  their  foreds,  they 
have  fcarcely  as  yet  become  acquainted  with  the  ufe 
of  fire,  ofhoufes,  or  of  clothing;  and  where  they 
are  acquainted  with  them,  it  is  only  in  fo  imperfect 
a  manner,  that  they  dp  not  derive  from  them  half 
the  advantages  they  do  in  other  countries.  In  fuch 
a  condition,  and  iituated  in  regions  inhofpitably  bar- 
ren, they  have  few  materials  for  drefs,  and  dill  Id's 
ingenuity  to  make  ufe  of  them  with  propriety;  as 
the  appetite  for  drefs,    however,    is  vifible  among 


OF  WOMEN.  129 

them.,  it  frequently  exerts  itfelf  in  forming  the  moft 
grotefque  appearances ;  even  the  women  of  Terra  del 
Fuego,  though  content  to  be  naked,  are  ambitious 
to  be  fine,  and  for  this  purpofe  paint  their  faces  with 
a  variety  of  colours ;  a  circle  of  white  commonly  fur- 
rounds  the  eyes,  and  the  reft  of  the  face  is  ftreakcd 
with  red  and  black,  fo  varioufly  difpofed,that  fcarcely 
any  two  are  to  be  found  alike;  andbefides  this,  they 
wear  bracelets  of  fliells  and  bones  upon  their  wrifts 
and  ankles.  Either  content  with  thefe  unavailing 
trifles,  or  unconfcious  of  the  ufe  of  any  thing  elfe, 
'  they  feemed,'  fays  Lieutenant  Cook,  '  to  have  no 
'  wifh  for  any  thing  more  than  they  poffeffed;  nor 
4  did  any  thing  which  we  offered  appear  acceptable, 
'  but  beads,  as  an  ornament  of  fuperfluity/ 

As  the  Americans  are  more  the  children  of  untu- 
tored nature,  and  confequently  Have  a  greater  fimi- 
larity  in  their  drefs  and  ornaments  than  any  other 
people,  we  fhall  only  give  a  fhort  and  general  de- 
scription of  them,  without  defcending  into  the  differ- 
ences which  diftinguifh  the  various  tribes  and  nations 
from  each  other.  There  are  few  American  orna- 
ments in  more  efteem  than  garters;  thefe  the  women 
make  of  buffaloe's  hair,  and  adorn  them  as  highly  as 
they  can  with  beads  and  fliells,  taking  care  at  the 
fame  time  to  difpofe  their  other  garments  fo  as  to 
fhew  them  to  the  belt  advantage;  befides  thefe,  they 
wear  alfo  pieces  of  deerftin,  which  they  tie  to  the 
outfides  of  their  legs,  and  hang  to  them  tortoife- 
fhells,  pebbles,  and  beads  of  various  colours  and 
fizes.  But  the  legs  are  not  the  only  parts  of  the  body 
decorated  with  this  kind  of  finery ;  both  fexes  are  fre- 
quently feen  fo  loaded  with  fheils  from  head  to  foot, 
as  to  excite  the  laughter  of  an  European.  This  cuf- 
tom  of  adorning  themfelves  with  beads  and  fliells 
may,  however,  not  be  altogether  the  effect  of  often- 


130  THE  HISTORY 

tation  and  love  of  finery  ;  beads  and  fhells  are  their 
current  money,  and  a  perfon  thus  adorned,  perhaps, 
carries  his  whole  property  about  him,  the  better  to 
fecure  it  from  being  flolen  or  plundered. 

Before  they  were  fupplied  with  other  ornaments 
from  Europe,  the  American's  of  both  fexes  ufed  fuch 
ihining  Hones  as  were  the  produce  of  their  own  coun- 
try, tying  them  to  their  hair,  to  their  npfes  and  ears, 
with  the  fibres  of  a  deer's  linew;  but  fmce  our  inter- 
courfe  with  them,  they  have  ufed  brafs  and  iiiver 
rings  for  their  ears  and  their  fingers;  befides  which, 
they  fallen  large  buttons  and  knobs  of  brafs  to  vari- 
ous parts  of  their  attire,  fo  as  to  make  a  tinkling 
when  they  walk  or  run.  Both  fexes  efteem  thefe 
ornaments  of  the  mofl  dillinguiihing  nature,  and  load 
themfelves  with  them  in  the  utmeft  proportion  of 
their  rank  and  ability;  fo  that  our  European  traders 
judge  of  the  fortune  of  an  American  by  the  trinkets 
on  the  crown  of  his  head,  at  his  ears,  wrills,  fingers, 
Sec.  ;  by  the  quantity  of  red  paint  daubed  on  his  face, 
and  by  the  finery  at  the  collar  of  his  fhirt,  if  he  hap- 
pens to  have  one,  which  is  far  from  being  always 
the  cafe. 

* 
Although  the  fame  attire  and  the  fame  ornaments 

are  indifcriminately  ufed  both  by  the  male  and  female 

favages,  yet  they  are  not  without  their  fexual  diftinc- 

tions  of  drefs,  as  well  as  the  inhabitants  of  civilized 

nations.     The  women  bore  fmall  holes  in  the  lobes 

of  the  ears  for  their  ear-rings  as  in  Europe;  the  hole 

which   the    men    make  extends     almofi   from  one 

extremity  of  the  external  ear  to  the  other.     The  men 

are  frequently  decorated    with  plumes   of  feathers 

and  enfigns  of  war  on  their  heads;     the  women, 

though  they  fometimes  make  ufe  of  feathers,  feldom 

or  never  wear  them  in  this  manner.     The  men  are 


OF  WOMEN.  131 

not  frequently  feen  without  fome  of  their  warlike 
weapons,  or  the  trophies  of  their  victory  fattened  to 
various  parts  of  their  bodies;  the  women  fearcely  ever 
appear  armed  but  in  cafes  of  neceflity,  and  as  rarely 
wear  any  of  the  fpoils  of  the  ham. 

Some  nations  of  favages,  not  contented  with  fuch 
ornaments  as  are  loofe  and  eafily  detached  from  the 
body,  have  contrived  to  ornament,  or  rather  to  dif- 
figure,  the  body  itfelf  by  incifions,  ilainings,  and 
paint.  In  feveral  of  the  iilands  lately  difcovered  in 
the  Gfeat  Southern  Ocean,  a  variety  of  indelible 
flains  are  made  in  different  parts  of  the  body,  by 
certain  materials  which  fink  into  fmall  punctures 
made  in  the  Jkin.  In  Otaheite,  this  operation  is  call- 
ed tattowing,  and  reckoned  ib  eflentially  necelfary, 
that  none  of  either  fex  rauft  be  without  it,  efpecially 
the  women,  who  are  generally  marked  in  the  form 
of  a  Z  on  every  part  of  .their  toes  and  fingers.  But 
the  part  on  which  thefe  ornaments  are  lavifhed  with 
thegreatefc  profunon,  is  the  breech,  which,  in  both 
fexes  is  llained  with  a  deep  black;  and  above  that, 
as  high  as  the  fhort  rib,  are  drawn  arches  which  take 
a  lighter  made  as  they  arife,  and  feem  to  be  diilin- 
guifhing  marks  of  honour,  as  they  are  mown  by 
both  fexes  with  an  oflentatious  pleafure. 

Such  is  almoft  the  only  mode  of  ornamenting  in 
this  formerly  unknown  part  of  the  globs;  as  to  the 
drefs,  it  differs  little  in  the  two  fexes,  and  confiits 
moltly  of  loofe  garments,  fuch  as  we  have  already 
feen  were  ufed  by  almoft  all  nations  in  their  rude  and 
unpolimed  ftate.  People  of  condition,  however, 
in  Otaheite  are  diftinguimed,  not  as  a  n  ng  the  an- 
cients, by  their  great  variety  of  changes  of  raiment, 
but  by  the  quantity  which  they  wear  at  once  ;  fume 
of  them  having  around  them  few  ml  webs  of  their 


132 


THE  HISTORY 


cloth,  each  of  eight  or  ten  yards  long,  and  two 
broad,  and  throwing  a  large  piece  lo  >fely  over  all, 
by  way  of  a  cloak,  or  even  two  of  thefe  pieces,  if 
they  wifli  to  appear  in  an  extraordinary  fhite.  Thus 
the  magnificence  of  unpolifhed  nations  feems  always 
to  have  exerted  itfelf  in  quantity  only.  Abraham 
dreffed  a  whole  calf,  and  ferved  it  up  at  an  enter- 
tainment to  two  angels.  Jofeph  helped  his  brother 
Benjamin  to  five  times  as  much  victuals  as  his  bre- 
thren j  and  the  fame  idea  of  quantity  only,  feems 
to  have  been  regarded  in  all  the  feaflings  of  the 
heroes  of  Homer,  and  fome  other  of  the  indents. 
As  thefe  diftinctions  of  rank  by  the  quantity  of  drefs 
only,  mult  be  exceedingly  troublefome  in  hot  coun- 
tries, the  ladies  of  Otaheite  always  uncovered  them- 
felves  as  low  as  the  waifl  in  the  evening,  throwing 
off  every  thing  with  the  fame  eafe  and  freedom  as 
our  ladies  would  lay  afide  a  glove,  cloak,  or  fuper- 
numerary  handkerchief. 

Singular  as  this  mode  of  dreffing  and  of  undreffing 
may  appear  to  us,  that  of  decorating  their  heads  is 
hardly  lefs  fo.  They  fometimes  wear  upon  them 
little  turbans,  but  their  more  common  drefs,  and 
what  they  chiefly  pride  themfelves  in,  is  long  threads 
of  human  hair  plaited  fo  as  hardly  to  be  thicker  than 
fewing  filk,  and  often  a  mile  or  more  in  length, 
without  a  fingle  knot :  thefe  they  wind  round  their 
heads  in  a  manner  that  (hows  they  are  neither  void 
of  tafte  nor  elegance,  {licking  flowers  and  fprigs  of 
evergreen  among  them,  to  give  them  the  greater 
variety.  European  fatiriits  are  apt  to  declaim  againff. 
our  ladies  for  the  time  they  fpend  under  the  opera- 
tion of  a  French  hair-drefler,  while  even  thefe  un- 
tutored people  cannot  be  fuppofed  to  employ  much 
lefs  in  twilling  fo  many  yards  of  rope  round  their 
heads,  and  giving  it  the  neceffary  de-corations. 


OF  WOMEN.  i33 

We  left  our  fketches  of  the  drefs  of  Europe  at 
thofe  periods  of  time,  called  the  Middle  Ages  ;  and 
fhail  now  refume  them  at  thefe  ages,  which  have 
only  a  little  preceded  our  own.  Were  we  to  endea- 
vour a  minute  description  of  the  prefent  drefs  of  Eu- 
rope, the  attempt  would  be  like  painting  the  colour 
of  a  camelion,  or  the  fhape  of  a  Proteus  ;  both  of 
which  would  be  changed  long  before  we  could  fmifh 
our  talk.  We  (hall,  therefore,  content  ourfelves 
with  a  few  general  obfervations  on  the  fubjecl. 

As  women  never  were  Haves,  nor  had  their  fpirits 
broken  by  ill  ufage  and  oppreffion  in  Europe,  as  in 
feveral  other  parts  of  the  world,  that  love  of  finery, 
fo  natural  to  the  fex,  mud  have  conftantly  operated 
in  inducing  them  to  decorate  themfelves  in  the  beft 
manner  that  the  circumftances  of  the  times  could 
afford,  or  the  fafhion  of  them  diftate.  But  when 
the  revival  of  arts  and  fciences  began  to  polifli  the 
minds  of  our  anceftors,  and  to  give  birth  to  ne-.v 
ideas ;  when  trade  and  commerce  began  to  furnifh 
new  materials,  for  the  more  elegant  modes  of  deco- 
ration, the  paffions  of  the  fex  for  drefs  began  alfo  to 
affume  new  and  unreftrainable  powers,  and  often 
hurried  them  to  fuch  unjuftifiable  lengths,  deaf  to 
reaiqn,  the  embellifhments  which  they  thought  were 
wanting,  in  order  to  make  the  fame  brilliant  appear- 
ance as  their  neighbours,  could  not  be  difpenfed 
with;  though  purchated  at  the  price  of  reputation, 
and  the  ruin  of  fortune.  Greece  and  Rome  had  of- 
ten fullered  by  the  fame  evil;  and  had  often  enacted 
fumptuary  laws  to  reftrain  it :  fuch  laws  now  became 
abfolutely  neceffary  in  Europe,  and  feveral  of  them 
Were  pubiimed  by  Henry  Fourth  of  France;  who  law, 
with  regret,  the  women  of  his  exhauflei  kingdom, 
exhauiting  themfelves  lull  more  in  the  love  of  finery 
and  emulation  of  their  fuperiors.     He  was  not,  how- 

VOL.  II.  S 


134  THE  HISTORY 

ever,  the  fifd  potentate  who  had  recourfe  to  this 
method  J  feveral,  both  before  and  after  him,  had 
publimed  edicts,  atccrtaining  the  utmod  limits  of  fine- 
ry to  which  every  rank,  and  condition  of  life  might 
proceed ;  and  beyond  which  they  were  not  to  go, 
without  fubjecting  themfelves  to  a  fevere  penalty. 

When  we  confider,  how  much  greater  the  value 
of  money  was  in  the  times  we  are  fpcaking  of,  than 
at  preient,  it  will  appear,  that  women  were  then 
much  more  cofdy  in  their  drefs  than  at  this  period, 
fo  much  declaimed  againft.  In  the  fifteenth  century 
Laura,  the  celebrated  midrefs  of  the  no  lefs  celebra- 
ted Petrarch,  wore  on  her  head  a  iilver  coronet,  and 
tied  up  her  hair  with  knots  of  jewels.  '  Her  drefs, 
4  fays  the  Author  of  the  life  of  Petrarch,  was  mag- 
'  nificent;  but,  in  particular,  fhe  had  filk  gloves 
'  brocaded  with  gold  ;'  though  at  this  time  filk  was 
fo  fcarce,  that  a  pound  of  it  fold  for  near  four  pounds 
fterling,  and  none  but  the  nobility  were  allowed  to 
wear  it.  Women  of  inferior  rank  wore  crowns  of 
flowers,  and  otherwife  drefied  themfelves  with  all 
the  magnificence  which  circumflances  and  fumptuary 
laws  would  allow. 

A  mod  extenfive  acquifition  to  the  materials  of  the 
toilette,  as  well  as  to  the  cleannefs  and  convenience 
of  the  men,  had  now  been  introduced  ;  this  was 
linen,  which  had  been  known  in  Europe  before, 
only  as  a  curiofity  ;  or  at  mod  as  a  decoration  of  the 
mod  elevated  and  opulent,  but  now  was  coming  into 
general  ufe  :  cambrics  and  lawns  foon  followed,  as 
an  improvement ;  and  after  thefe,  fine  laces  were 
invented,  of  which  women,  al mod  ever  fi nee.  have 
fo  much  availed  themfelves.  The  art  of  weaving 
filk,  fo  as  to  make  garments,  had,  for  fome  time, 
been  known  ;  but   that  of  making  it  into  riband- . 


of  women;  135 

feems  not  to  have  been  yet  invented ;  they  have 
fince,  however,  become  fo  general,  .that  they  make 
an  indifpenfable  part  of  the  dreis  of  every  female, 
from  the  higheft  to  the  loweft  flation.  Diamonds 
had  long  been  known  in  the  Eall,  and  fome  centu- 
ries  before  this,  had  been  introduced  into  Europe ; 
but  they  had  not  attained  the  art  of  poliihing  'diem  ; 
and  in  their  natural  (late,  or  with  the  little  ikill  they 
had  in  drefling  them,  they  did  not  mow  half  th^ir 
luftre.*  It  was  not  long  after,  however,  that  the 
art  of  polifhing  them,  by  means  of  their  own  dull, 
and  fo  giving  them  all  their  diltinguifhing  brilliancy, 
was  discovered.  All  thefe,  and  iome  others  of  leis 
importance,  were  acquisitions  to  theftock  of  female 
ornament,  and  rendered  the  bufineis  of  the  toilette 
a.  matter  that  required  more  time,  as  well  as  more 
tafte,  than  it  had  ever  done  before.  From  the  fif- 
teenth century,  to  the  prefent  time,  the  variations  of 
female  drefs  and  ornament  have  been  more  b\A  iiig  to 
the  inconftancy  of  manners,  and  the  inflability  of 
fafliion,  than  to  the  addition  of  any  new  materials. 
From  America,  fcarcely  any  thing  has  been  added, 
but  feathers  and  furs ;  the  laft  of  which,  as  one  of 
the  bed  defences  from  the  cold,  have  been  uied  in 
all  northern  countries  time  immemorial.  Though* 
in  milder  climates,  they  are  now  introduced  as  an 

*  They  preferve,  in  the  treafury  of  St.  Denis,  a  clafp  of  the 
mantle  which  the  kings  of  France  ufed  to  wear  on  the  day  of 
their  coronation  :  this  piece  is  very  ancient;  land  has  wl;  i: 
called,  four  natural  points.  There  is  Iikewife  in  the  fame  tiea- 
fury,  a  relic  almoit  as  ancient,  and  adorned  with  eight  natural 
points  ;  but  all  thefe  ftones  are  fmall,  black,  and  no  way  agree- 
able to  the  eye.  Thefe,  and  feme  others,  preferred  in  the  ca- 
binets of  the  curious,  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  fuliv  demon- 
ftrate,  that  even  the  diamond,  before  the  art  of  giving  it  a  pro- 
per poliih  was  difcovered,  was  far  from  being  that  brrlhant,  and 
almoft  ineirimable  jewel,  which  it  is  at  prefent,  when  properly 
improved  by  the  art  of  the  lapidary. 


r36  THE  HISTORY 

article  of  luxury  ;  and  a  value  fet  upon  fome  of  them 
as  imaginary  as  that  of  the  diamond  or  the  pearl. 

Though  it  is  not  our  intention  to  give  an  account 
of  all  the  changes  that  have  happened  in  drefs,  from 
the  fifteenth  to  the  prefent  century  ;  yet  there  v.  as 
one  revolution  v\  hich  happened  to  it,  under  the  pro- 
tectorfhip  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  that  we  cannot  pai< 
by.  Aimoit  every  religion,  which  had  been  pro- 
mulgated, previous  to  that  of  Chriftianity,  had  in- 
terwoven, in  its  very  eEencej  a  number  of  ceremo- 
nies, where  grandeur  and  magnificence  were  often- 
tatioufly  dif}  layed.  Thefe  religions,  thertfore,  in- 
ftead  of  diicouraging,  raiher  encouraged  ornament 
and  finery.  But  the  Author  of  the  Chriflian  ljficm 
having  taught  by  his  example,  as  w  ell  as  his  doc- 
trine, the  utmoft  plainnefs  and  Simplicity,  it,  in  time, 
became  fafliionable  for  fuch  of  the  members  of  that 
fyftem,  as  had  more  zeal  than  underilanding,  to 
exclaim,  in  the  pittereft  terms,  againft  every  fpecies 
of  drefs  that  had  any  other  object  in  view  than  to 
cover  (name,  and  defend  them  from  the  cold.  This 
rage  of  turning  all  things  into  the  mod  primitive  fnn- 
plicity, feemed  rifing  to  the  zenith  of  its  glory,  about 
the  time  that  the  Protector  began  to  make  fome  figure 
in  England.  During  his  adminiftratipn,  it  triumph- 
ed over  fenfe,  reafon,  and  even  decency.  Women 
were  then  in  fo  much  difgrace,  that  they  were  deni- 
ed all  kinds  of  ornament  ;  and  even  the  beauties  be- 
ftowed  by  nature,  were  conlidered  as  criminal  dif- 
advantages  to  the  fair  poileflcrs,  and  lufTicient  mo- 
tives to  induce  every  Chriflian  to  fhun  their  com- 
pany ;  becaufe  it  was  impofhble  to  be  in  it  without 
finning. 

The  pulpits  often  echoed  the  following  fentiments, 
that  man  being  conceived  in  fin,  and  brought  forth 


OF  WOMEN.  137 

in  iniquity,  is  a  flave  to  the  flefh,  till  regenerated  by 
the  fpirit;  that  it  was  his  complaifance  for  woman 
that  firft  wrought  his  debafement,  that  he  ought  not 
therefore  to  glory  in  his  fhame,  nor  love  the  foun- 
tain of  his  corruption ;  that  he  mould  not  marry  on 
account  of  love,  affection,  or  the  focial  joys  of  wed- 
lock, but  purely  to  increafe  the  number  of  the  faints, 
which  he  mould  never  occupy  himfelf  in  doing  with- 
out prayer  and  humiliation,  that  his  offspring  might 
thereby  avoid  the  curfe,  Such  being  the  notions 
inftilled  into  the  people,  the  mod  virtuous  emotions 
cf  nature  were  confidered  as  arifmg  from  original 
guilt,  and  beauty  avoided  as  an  inftrument  in  the 
hands  of  Satan,  to  feducethe  hearts  of  the  faithful; 
even  the  women  themfelves  caught  with  the  unnatu- 
ral contagion,  laid  afide  the  ornaments  of  their  fex, 
and  endeavoured  to  make  themfelves  appear  difguft- 
ing  by  humiliation  and  faffing  ;  nay,  fome  of  them 
were  fo  much  afraid  of  ornaments,  that  they  even 
confidered  clothes  of  any  kind  as  tending  to  that  pur- 
pofe,  and  one,  full  of  that  idea,  came  into  the 
church  where  Cromwell  fat,  in  the  condition  of  our 
original  mother  before  me  plucked  the  fig-leaf,  that 
fhe  might  be,  as  (lie  faid,  a  fign  to  the  people. 

But  as  the  human  paffions,  like  fprings,  fly  the 
more  violently  in  the  oppofite  direction,  the  more 
forcibly  they  have  been  bent,  the  reftoration  was  no 
fooner  brought  about,  than  all  this  public  enthufiafm 
vanifhed,  and  elegance  of  drefs  and  levity  of  manners 
foon  became  more  the  fafhion  than  flovenlinefs  and 
puritanilm  had  been  before.  Pleafure  became  the 
univerfal  object,  and  the  pleafure  of  love  tool;  the 
lead  of  all  others;  but  beauty  unconnected  with  vir- 
tue was  the  object  of  this  love,  it  was  therefore  void 
pf  honour  or  morality,  in  confequence  of  which, 


138  THE  HISTORY 

female  virtue,    robbed   of  its  reward,  became  Icis 
inflexible,  and  a  total  degeneracy  of  manners  enfued. 

In  every  country  where  drefs  is  under  the  direc- 
tion of  tafte  and  judgement,  it  is  fo  contrived  as  nei- 
ther altogether  to  conceal,  nor  altogether  to  difcover, 
the  beauties  of  the  female  form.  This  general  rule, 
however j  has  not  been  without  exceptions ;  in  every 
country  enthuflaftic  priefts,  antiquated  pnyks,  and 
women  outrageoufiy  virtuous,  have  muffled  tlv  m- 
felves  like  Egyptian  mummies,  and  exclaimed  in  the 
bitternefs  of  their  hearts  againft  the  nakedneis  of  the 
reft  of  the  world;*  while  on  the  other  hand,  women 
of  lefs  rigid  principles,  and  thofe  abandoned  to  pros- 
titution, throwing  afide  all  decency,  feem  10  wifh 
that  the  whole  female  toilette  were  reduced  to  the 
original  fig-leaf:  fome  nations  too  are  lefs  delicate  in 
this  refpeft  than  others;  the  Italians  and  French  have 
ever  been  remarkably  fo,  while  the  Spanifh  have 
fallen  into  the  oppofite  extreme.  At  Venice,  the 
ladies  in  the  beginning  of  the  Iaft  century  dreffcd  in 
fuch  light  thin  (tufts,  that  not  only  the  lhape  of  the 
body,  but  even  the  colour  of  the  fkin  might  eafily 
be  feen  through  them;  and  at  this  day,  perhaps 
owing  to  the  heat  of  their  climate,  the  drefs  of  their 
modeft  women  is  hardly  more  decent  than  that  of  our 
common  proftitutes.  The  French  ladies  are  but  lit- 
tle lefs  diilinguilhed  for  their  loofenefs  of  drefs  than 
their  neighbours  the  Italians;  almoft  the  only  dif- 
ference is,  that  more  light  and  fantaftic,  they  have 
flown  with  greater  rapidity  from  one  fafhion  to  ano- 

*  In  the  latter  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  a  monk  of  the 
order  of  St.  Auguftin,  who  had  acquired  great  reputation  for 
piety,  declaimed  fo  fuccefsfully  at  Pavia,  againfl  the  ornaments 
of  the  times,  that  many  ladies  renouncing  their  finery,  appeared 
in  all  the  fimplicity  which  this  fuppofedly  infpired  monk  dictaud 
to  them. 


OF  WOMEN.  139 

ther:  In  the  fourteenth  century,  they  appeared 
half  naked  at  public  atTemblies,  and  in  the  public 
walks  drefledfo  much  like  the  men,  that  they  could 
hardly  be  diftinguiihed  from  them  but  by  the  voice 
and  complexion ;  fuch  have  long  been  the  modes  of 
drelfing  in  Italy  and  France,  as  to  endeavour  to  (how 
every  charm  which  can  with  any  tolerable  degree  of 
decency  be  difplayed.  'While  in  Spain,  where  the 
fpirit  of  chivalry  is  hardly  yet  extinguished,  and 
where  the  women  confequently  Hill  retain  a  little  of 
the  romantic  dignity  which  was  annexed  to  it,  io  far 
from  mowing  their  nakednefs,  they  have  hardly  as 
yet  condefcended  even  to  mow  their  faces  to  the 
other  fe'x. 

Though  the  French  have  now  taken  the  lead  of 
the  Italians  in  all  the  fantailic  fripperies  of  famion, 
it  would  feem  that  the  Italians  were  formerly  not  lefs 
noted  for  it.  Petrarch  deicribing  their  drefs  in  his 
time  fays,  '  who  can  behold  the  moes  with- pointed 
'  toes,  fo  long  that  they  will  reach  to  the  knee,  head- 
4  dreffes  with  wings  to  them,  the  hair  put  into  a  tail, 
'  the  foreheads  of  the  men  furrowed  with  thofe  ivory 
'  needles,  with  which  the  women  failened  their 
*  hair,  and  their  flomachs  Squeezed  by  machines  of 
'  iron.'  The  pointed  moes  and  machines  of  iron 
were  more  unnatural,  and  confequently  more  ridi- 
culous, than  any  fantaftie  fafhion  which  has  appear- 
ed in  this  fantailic  age. 

As  the  ornamental  part  of  drefs  is  evidently  meant 
to  heighten  the  beauties  of  nature;,  nqthiag  can  be 
more  evident  than  that  it '  thould  always  coincide 
with  her  defi  n ;..  wh  n  v  r  (he  is  not  defective  or 
luxuriant.  Siu;h,  we  prefumte,  are  the  ideas  of  true 
taft'e  ;  but  fuch,  however,  have  not  always  been 
thofe  adoprri  by  the  leaders  or  fMiions-      towards 


H»  THE  HISTORY 

the  beginning  of  the  prefent  century,  it  feems  to  have 
been  the  prevailing  opinion,  that  nature  had  made 
the  female  waift  greatly  too  large;  to  remedy  which 
the  fliffeft  flays  were  laced  on  in  the  tighten1  man- 
ner, left  the  young  ladies  fhould  become  clumfy,  or 
grow  crooked.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  century, 
it  began  to  be  difcovered,  that  befides  the  uneafinefs 
of  fuch  actuation,  it  frequently  produced  the  very 
effects  it  was  intended  to  prevent ;  phyficians  and 
philofophers  now  declaimed  againft  flays,  and  they 
were  by  many  laid  afide  with  fuch  abhorrence,  that 
the  fafhion  took  quite  a  different  turn.  We  difco- 
vered that  our  mothers  had  been  all  in  the  wrong, 
and  that  nature  had  not  made  the  female  waill  near- 
ly fo  large  as  it  ought  to  have  been  ;  but  the  ladies 
fupplied  this  defect  fo  well  with  clothes  that  about 
the  years  1759  and  1760  every  woman,  old  and 
young,  had  the  appearance  of  being  big  with  child. 
In  ten  or  twelve  years  the  fafhion  began  to  take  the 
oppofite  direction  again,  and  fmall  waifts  are  now 
efteemed  fo  great  a  beauty,  that,  in  endeavouring 
to  procure  them,  women  have  outdone  all  the  efforts 
of  their  grandmothers  in  the  beginning  of  the  cen- 
tury. Such  have  been  the  revolutions  of  the  waifl 
within  thefe  fifty  years,  thofe  of  the  form  in  general 
we  pretend  not  to  delineate  ;  we  cannot  help,  how- 
ever, obferving,  that  were  we  to  copy  nature,  we 
fhould  think  the  gentle  tapering  and  uprightnefs  of 
a  female,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  beauty  and 
elegance  of  her  figure  ;  but  as  nature,  it  feems,  has 
erred  here  alfo,  our  ladies  endeavour  as  much  as 
they  can,  to  deflroy  this  kind  of  elegance,  by 
whale-bone  and  cork. 

The  revolutions  of  the  breafls  and  ihoulders  have 
not  been  lefs  confpicuous  than  thofe  of  the  waill : 
about  the  beginning  of  the  century,  it  was  highly 


OF  WOMEN.  141 

indecent  to  be  naked  two  inches  below  the  neck; 
about  the  middle  of  it,  (he  was  dreffed  in  the  high- 
eft  tafte  who  ihowed  the  greateft  part  of  her  breads 
•and  fhoulders;  fome  years  afterward,  every  female 
of  whatever  condition  was  muffled  up  to  the  chin; 
at  prefent  that  mode  is  difcarded,  and  the  naked 
breads  and  moulders  begin  again  to  appear.  As  we 
have  already  leen,  that  in  all  countries  women  have 
been  particularly  folicitous  about  the  ornament  and 
drefs  of  their  heads,  fo  in  ours  thefe  have  been  an 
object  of  fo  much  attention,  that  the  materials  em- 
ployed, and  the  variations  produced  by  them,  are 
beyond  our  power  to  defcribe ;  we  (hall  only,  there- 
fore, obferve  in  general,  that  the  head-drefs  of  the 
prefent  times  has  a  near  refemblance  to  that  which 
we  have  already  delineated  as  ufed  by  the  ladies  of 
ancient  Rome,  and  confifts  of  fo  much  wool,  falfe 
hair,  pomatum,  pafte,  quilts,  combs,  pins,  curls, 
ribbons,  laces,  and  other  materials,  that  the  head  of 
a  modern  lady  in  full  drefs  is,  when  Handing,  com- 
monly fomething  more  than  one-third  of  the  length 
of  her  whole  figure;  we  mult,  however,  obferve, 
in  juftice  to  the  lex,  that  fuch  prepofterous  modes  of 
dreffing  are  not  peculiar  to  them  alone;  the  men 
have  not  been  lefs  rapid  in  their  changes,  nor  have 
thefe  changes  been  proofs  of  a  more  elegant  tafte,  or 
a  more  folid  judgment. 

We  fliall  conclude  thefe  obfervations  on  drefs  and 
ornament  with  one  of  the  moil  extraordinay  inftances 
of  legislative  fuperftition  that  ever  contributed  to  de- 
mon ft  rate  human  abfurdity.  We  have  already  feen 
that  long  hair  was  frequently  declaimed  againft  from 
the  pulpit,  and  that  it  was  in  the  days  of  Cromwell 
confidered  as  a  fubjecl  of  difgrace.  The  gloomy  emi- 
grants who  fled  from  England  and  other  parts  about 
that  period,  to  feek  in  the  wilds  of  Anierica  a  retreat 

vol.  if.  T 


143  THE  HISTORY 

where  they  might  worfhip  God  according  to  their 
eonfeiences,  among  other  whimfical  tenets,  carried 
to  their  new  fettlements  an  antipathy  againft  long 
hair,  and  when  they  became  ftrong  enough  to  pub- 
Jim  a  code  of  laws,  we  find  the  following  article  as 
a  part  of  it  :  "  It  is  a  circumftance  univerfally  ac- 
knowledged, that  the  cuftom  of  wearing  long  hair, 
after  the  manner  of  immoral  perfons,  and  of  the  fa- 
vage  Indians,  can  only  have  been  introduced  into 
England,  but  in  facrilegious  contempt  of  the  exprefs 
command  of  God,  who  declares,  that  it  is  a  fliame- 
ful  practice  for  any  man  who  has  the  lead  care  for  his 
foul  to  wear  long  hair:  as  this  abomination  excites 
the  indignation  of  all  pious  perfons,  we  the  magis- 
trates, in  our  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the  faith,  do  ex- 
prefsly  and  authentically  declare,  that  we  condemn 
the  impious  cuftom  of  letting  the  hair  grow,  a  cuftom 
which  we  look  upon  to  be  very  indecent  and  dif- 
honeft,  which  horribly  difguifes  men,  and  is  often  - 
five  to  modeft  and  fober  perfons,  in  as  much  as  it 
corrupts  good  manners;  we,  therefore,  being  juftly 
incenfed  againft  this  fcandalous  cuftom,  do  defire, 
advife,  and  earneftlv  requeft  all  the  elders  of  our  con- 
tinent zcalouily  to  (hew  their  averlion  from  this  odi- 
ous practice,  to  exert  all  their  power  to  put  a  ftop 
to  it,  and  efpecially  to  take  care  that  the  members 
of  their  churches  be  not  infected  with  it;  in  order  that 
thofe  perfons  who,  notwithftanding  thefe  rigorous 
prohibitions,  and  the  means  of  correction  that  {hall 
be  ufed  on  this  account,  (hall  ftill  perfift  in  this  cuf- 
tom, (hall  have  both  God  and  man  at  the  fame  time 
againft  them." 

But  befides  the  methods  of  ornament  and  drcfe 
common  almoft  to  all  nations,  the  women  of  Europe 
have  a  variety  of  others,  by  which  they  endeavour 


OF  WOMEN.  145 

to  attract  the  attention  and  attach  the  heart.  Among 
thefe  we  may  reckon  every  genteel  and  polite  female 
accomplifhment,  fuch  as  mulic  drawing,  dancing,  to 
all  which  we  may  add  that  correfpondent  ibftnels  of 
body  and  of  mind,  the  radiance  that  fparkles  in  their 
eyes,  and  the  melody  that  flows  from  their  tongue, 
their  unaffected  medefty,  and  the  namelefs  other 
qualities  which  fo  eminently  diftinguiih  them  from 
all  the  women  who  are  educated  only  to  become 
flaves,  and  minifters  of  pleafure.,  to  the  tyrant 
man. 


1*4  THE  HISTORY 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 


Of  Courtflrip. 


O 


F  all  that  variety  of  paffions  which  fo 
differently  agitate  the  human  bread,  none  work  a 
greater  change  on  the  fentiments,  none  more  dulcify 
and  expand  the  feelings,  than  love;  while  anger 
transforms  us  into  furies,  and  revenge  metamorpho- 
fes  us  into  fiends,  love  awakes  the  mofl  oppofite  fen- 
fations.  While  benevolence  warms  our  hearts,  and 
charity  flretches  out  our  hands,  love,  being  com- 
pounded of  all  the  tender,  of  all  the  humane  and 
difinterefled  virtues,  calls  forth  at  once  all  their  foft 
ideas,  and  exerts  all  their  good  offices.*  The  de- 
claration of  this  focial  and  benevolent  paffion  to  the 
object  that  infpires  it,  is  what  we  commonly  call 
courtfhip,  and  the  time  of  this  courtfhip,  notwith- 
{landing  the  many  embarraffinents  and  uneafineffes 
which  attend  it,  is  generally  confidered  as  one  of  the 
happiefl  periods  of  human  life,  at  leafl  fo  long  as  it 
is  fupported  by  hope,  that  pleafant  delirium  of  the 
foul. 

Though  the  declaration  of  a  paffion  fo  virtuous, 
fo  benign  and  gentle,  as  that  which  we  have  now 

*  The  reverend  Mr.  Sterne,  author  of  Triftram  Shandy,  ufed 
to  fay,  That  he  never  felt  the  vibrations  of  his  heart  fo  much  in 
unifon  with  virtue,  as  when  he  was  in  love  ;  and  that  whenever 
he  did  a  mean  or  unworthy  action,  on  examining  himfelf  frric"tly, 
he  found  that  at  that  time  he  was  loofe  from  every  fentimental  at- 
tachment to  the  fair  fex. 


OF  WOMEN.  145 

defcribed,  feems  to  refleft  fo  much  honour  on  the 
breaft  in  which  it  is  harboured,  that  neither  fex  can 
poffibly  have  any  occaiion  to  be  afhamed  of  it  ;  yet 
the  great  Author  of  Nature,  throughout  the  wide 
extent  of  his  animated  works,  appears  to  have  placed 
the  privilege  of  afking  in  the  male,  and  that  of  re- 
futing in  the  female.  Nor,  when  we  except  man, 
has  it  ever  been  known  among  the  moft  favage  and 
ferocious  animals,  that  a  rape  has  been  committed 
on  the  female,  or  that  fhe  has  been  attempted  by 
any  other  methods  than  fuch  as  were  gentle  and 
foothing.  Man,  however,  that  imperious  lord  of 
the  creation,  has  often  departed  from  this  rule,  and 
forced  a  reluftant  female  to  his  hated  embrace  ;  and 
though  he  has  not  any  where  by  law,  deprived  wo- 
men from  refilling  fuch  illicit  attempts,  yet  he  has 
gone  very  near  to  it ;  he  has  in  many  nations,  from 
the  earlielt  antiquity,  deprived  them  of  the  power  of 
refufing  fuch  a  hufband  as  their  fathers  or  other  re- 
lations chofe  for  them  ;  thereby  taking  from  them 
what  the  Creator  of  all  things  had  given  them,  as  a 
common  right  with  the  females  of  all  other  animals, 
and  cb.fhing,  at  once,  courtfhip,  and  all  the  deli- 
cate feelings  and  pleafures  attending  it,  out  of  ex- 
iftence. 

Though  it  is  prefumable,  that  the  mutual  inclina- 
tion of  the  fexes  to  each  other,  is,  in  each,  nearly 
equal ;  yet,  as  we  conftantly  fee  the  declaration  of 
that  inclination  made  by  the  men,  let  us  enquire, 
whether  this  is  the  effeft  of  cuftom,  or  of  nature  ? 
If  what  we  havejuft  nowobferved  be  a  general  fa£t, 
that  only  the  males  of  all  animals  firfl  dilcover  their 
pafiion  to  the  females,  then  it  will  follow,  that  this 
is  the  effecl:  of  nature  :  but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
be  true,  as  fome  travellers  affirm,  that,  in  feveral 
favage  countries,  the  female  fex  not  only  declare 


146  THE  HISTORY 

their  paffions  with  as  much  eafe  and  freedom  as  the 
male,  but  alfo  frequently  endeavour  to  force  the 
male  to  their  embraces,  then  it  will  feem  to  be  the 
elfect  of  cuftom.  Cuflom,  however,  that  whimfi- 
cal  and  capricious  tyrant  of  the  mind,  feldom  arifes 
out  of  nothing;  and  in  cafes  where  nature  is  concern- 
ed, frequently  has  nature  for  her  bafis.  Allowing 
then,  that  it  is  cuflom,  which  in  Europe,  and  many 
other  parts  ef  the  world,  has  placed  the  right  of 
afking  in  men,  by  a  long  and  uninterrupted  poUeilion ; 
yet  that  very  cuflom,  in  our  opinion,  may  be  fairly 
traced  ;  for  nature,  it  is  plain,  has  made  man  more 
bold  and  intrepid  than  woman,  lefs  fufceptible  of 
fTiame,  and  devolved  upon  him  almofl  all  the*  more 
active  fcenes  of  life  ;  it  is,  therefore,  highly  proba- 
ble, that,  confeious  of  thefe  qualities,  he  at  firfl 
affumed  the  right  of  aiking  ;  a  right  to  which  cuf- 
tom  has  at  lafl  given  him  a  kind  of  exclufive  pri- 
vilege. 

Taking  it  for  granted  then,  that  the  declaration 
of  the  fentiment  of  love,  is  a  privilege  of  the  men, 
founded  on  nature,  and  fanctified  by  cuflom,  the 
various  modes  of  making  that  declaration  by  them, 
and  of  accepting  or  refuting  it  by  the  women,  were 
we  able  to  give  a  perfect  account  of  it,  would  make 
one  of  the  mofl  curious  and  entertaining  parts  of  this 
hiftory,  and  equally  furnifh  matter  of  fpeculation  for 
the  fine  lady  and  the  philofopher.  We  can,  how- 
ever, exhibit  but  little  of  this  entertainment,  while 
we  treat  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  Eafl  ;  who, 
ftrangers  to  fentiment  and  delicacy  of  feeling,  bought 
a  bride  with  the  fame  difpaffionate  coolnefs  and  deli- 
beration, as  they  would  have  done  an  ox  01  an  afs; 
and  even  in  the  review  of  the  other  nations,  hiflorical 
information  does  not  enable  us  to  make  it  fo  com- 
plete as  we  could  wifh. 


OF  WOMEN.  147 

When'  Abraham  fefit  Eliezer,  his  fervant,  to 
court  a  bride  for  his  foil  Ifaac,  it  appears  from  the 
{lory,  that  fentiment  was  entirely  excluded  ;  that 
Abraham  had  never  feen  Rebecca,  knew  not  whe- 
ther her  perfoa  and  temper  were  agreeable,  nor  whe- 
the  young  couple  would  be  pleafed  with  each  other  \ 
and  that  the  only  motive  which  determined  his  choice 
was,  becaufe  {he  was  his  relation.  We  do  not  fo 
much  as  hear,  that  Ifaac  was  confulted  in  the  mat- 
ter ;  nor  is  there  even  a  fufpicion,  that  he  might 
refufe  or  diflike  the  wife  which  his  father  had  felect- 
ed  for  him  ;  circumftances  which  atford  the  flrong- 
eft  proof  that,  in  thofe  days,  love  and  regard  had 
little  or  no  exigence  :  they  likewife  teach  us,  that 
the  liberty  of  choice  in  matrimony  was  more  reftricl:- 
ed  among  the  Ifraelites  than  the  neighbouring  na- 
tions ;  for  Laban,  the  brother  of  Rebecca,  did  not 
feem  to  chufe  for  his  fifter,  as  Abraham  had  done 
for  his  fon  ;  but  afked  her,  after  Eliezer  had  made 
his  propofal,  Whether  flic  would  go  with  the  man  ? 
And  the  manner  in  which  {he  confented,  mews  us, 
that  it  is  to  art  and  refinement  we  owe  the  feeming 
referve  of  modern  times ;  and  not  to  honefl  and  un- 
tutored nature,  which  is.  never  amamed  to  fpeak  the 
fentiments. of  virtue.     "  I  will  go,"  anfwered  me. 

From  this  ftory,.  of  the  manner  in  which  Rebecca 
was  folicited,  we  learn  two  things,  which  throw 
much  light  on  the  court  {hip  of  antiquity  :  the  iirft 
is,  that  women  were  not  courted  in  perfon  by  their 
lovers,  but  by  a  proxy  ;  whom  he,  or  his  parents, 
deputed  in  his  ftead  :  the  fecond,  that  thefe  proxies 
did  not,  as  in  modern  times,  endeavour  to  gain  the 
affections  of  the  ladies  they  were  fenl  to,  by  enlarg- 
ing on  the  perfonal  properties,  and  mental  qualifica- 
tions of  their  lovers  ;  but  bv  the  richnefs  and  haaghi- 


148  THE  HISTORY 

licence  of  the  prefents  made  to  them  and  their  rela- 
tions. Prefents  have  been  from  the  earlieft  ages, 
and  are  to  this  day  the  mode  of  tranfa&ing  all  kinds 
of  bufmefs  in  the  Eafl.  If  you  go  before  a  fuperior, 
to  afk  any  favour,  or  even  to  require  what  is  your 
due,  you  mull  carry  a  prefent  with  you,  if  you  wilh 
to  fucceed  ;  fo  that  courtlhip  having  been  anciently 
negociated  in  this  manner,  it  is  plain,  that  it  was 
only  confidered  in  the  fame  light  as  any  other  nego- 
ciable  bufmefs,  and  not  as  a  matter  of  ientiment,  and 
of  the  heart. 

It  appears,  however,  that  Jacob  did  not,  accord- 
ing to  the  cuilom  of  the  times,  and  after  the  example 
of  Ifaachis  father,  court  a  bride  by  proxy:  he  went 
to  vilit  her  in  perfon,  and  their  firft  meeting  has  in  it 
fomething  very  remarkable.  Lovers,  generally, 
either  are  cheerful,  or  endeavor  to  afTume  that  ap- 
pearance; but  Jacob  drew  near,  and  killed  Rachel, 
and  lift  up  his  voice  and  wept.  How  a  behaviour 
of  this  kind  fuited  the  temper  of  an  Ifraelitilh  virgin, 
in  the  times  of  primitive  fimplicity,  we  know  not; 
but  may  venture  to  affirm,  that  a  blubbering  lover 
would  make  but  a  ridiculous  and  unengaging  figure 
in  the  eyes  of  a  modern  lady  of  the  ton.  In  the 
courtlhip,  however,  or  rather  purchafe  of  a  wife  by 
Jacob,  we  meet  with  fomething  like  fentiment;  for 
when  he  found  that  he  was  not  pofTefTed  of  money 
or  goods,  equal  to  the  price  which  was  probably  fet 
upon  her,  he  not  only  condefcended  to  purchafe  her 
by  labour  and  fervitude,  but  even  feemed  much  dif- 
appointed,  when  the  tender-eyed  Leah  was  fakhlefsly 
impofed  upon  him,  inftead  of  the  beautiful  Ra- 
chel ;  for  whom  he  again  fubmitted  to  the  fame  term 
of  fervitude  he  had  done  before.  In  the  courtlhip 
of  Sechem  alfo,  we  find  that  his  choice  was  flrongly 
determined  by  love  ;  but  then  his  pallion  did  not, 


OF  WOMEN.  t49 

as  one  would  have  thought  the  mod  natural,  eiFufe 
itfelf  into  the  bofom  of  the  object  beloved.  He  ap- 
plied to  the  brethren  of  Dinah,  making  them  advan- 
tageous offers  for  the  poffeffion  of  the  perfon  of  their 
fitter,  regardlefs,  to  all  appearance,  of  her  heart, 
il  Afk  me  never  fo  much  dowry,  faid  he,  ,  and  I 
"  will  give  according  as  you  mail  fay  unto  me.5* 
But  when  we  confider,  that  in  the  times  we  are  deli- 
neating, wives  were  only  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of 
fuperior  flaves,  and  not  as  the  focial  companions  of 
life,  and  the  equal  fharers  of  good  and  bad  fortune; 
we  fhall  eafily  perceive,  that  fentiment  in  the  choice, 
and  reciprocal  affection  in  the  bargain,  were  not  fo 
neceffary  as  in  our  times,  when  the  cafe  is  happily 
reverfed. 

We  laid  it  down  before  as  a  general  rule,  that  the 
declaration  of  love  was  at  all  times,  and  in  all  countries, 
the  peculiar  privilege  of  the  men;  but  as  all  general 
rules  are  liable  to  fome  exceptions,  there  are  alfo  a 
few  to  this.  An  Ifraelitilh  widow  had,  by  law,  a 
power  of  claiming  in  marriage  the  brother  of  her 
deceafed  hufband ;  in  which  cafe,  as  the  privelege 
of  the  male  was  transferred  to  the  female,  fo  like- 
wife  that  of  the  female  was  transferred  to  the  male, 
he  had  the  power  of  refuting  ;  the  refufal,  however, 
was  accampanied  with  fome  mortifying  circumftances, 
the  woman  whom  he  had  thus  flighted  was  to  come 
unto  him  in  the  prefence  of  the  elders  of  the  city, 
and  to  loofe  the  flioe  from  his  foot,  and  fpit  in  his 
face.  To  man,  by  nature  bold  and  intrepid,  and 
inverted  with  unlimited  power  of  aildng,  a  refufal 
was  of  little  confequence ;  but  to  woman,  more 
timid  and  modeft,  and  whofe  power  of  afking  was 
limited  to  the  brethren  of  her  deceafed  hufband,  it 
was  not  only  an  affront,  but  a  real  injury,  as  every 
one  would  conclude,  that   the   refufal  strafe  from 

vol.  II,  U 


i5o  THE  HISTORY 

fome  well-grounded  caufe,  and  every  one  would 
therefore  fo  neglect  and  defpife  the  woman,  that 
flic  could  have  but  little  chance  for  a  future  huiband  ; 
hence,  perhaps,  it  was  thought  neceffyry  to  fix 
fomc  public  digma  on  tin:  dadard  who  was  fo  ungal- 
lant  as  not  to  comply  with  the  addreffes  of  a  woman. 
A  cudom  fometh'mg  fimilar  to  this  obtains  at  prefent 
among  the  Hurons  and  Iriquois;  when  a  wife  dies, 
the  hudiand  is  obliged  to  marry  the  fider,  or,  in  her 
dead,  the  woman  whom  the  family  of  his  deceafed 
wife  mall  chufe  for  him  :  a  widow  is  alfo  obliged  to 
marry  one  of  the  brothers  of  her  deceafed  huiband, 
if  he  has  died  without  children,  and  (lie  is  dill  of 
an  age  to  have  any.  Exactly  the  fame  thing  takes 
place  in  the  Caroline  iflands  ;  and  there,  as  well  as 
among  the  Hurons,  the  women  may  demand  iiich 
brother  to  marry  her,  though  we  are  not  informed 
whether  they  ever  exercifed  that  power. 

In  the  Ifthmus  of  Darien,  we  are  told  that  the 
right  of  afking  is  lodged  in,  and  promifcucufly  ex- 
erted by  both  fexes ;  who  each,  when  they  feel  the 
naihen  of  love,  declare  it  without  the  leaft  hefita- 
tion  or  embarraffment  ;  and  in  the  Ukrain,  the 
fame  thing  is  faid  to  be  carried  dill  farther,  and  the 
women  more  generally  to  court  than  the  men.  When 
a  young  uoman  falls  in  love  with  a  man,  fhe  is  not 
in  the  leaft  afhamed  to  go  to  his  father's  houfe,  and 
reveal  Ivr  pafllon  in  the  mod  tender  and  pathetic 
manner,  and  to  promife  the  mod  fubmidive  obedi- 
ence, if  he  will  accept  of  her  for  a  wife.  Should 
the  infer/ible  man  pretend  any  excufe,  die  tells  him 
Ihe  is  refolved  never  to  go  out  of  the  houfe  till  he 
gives  his.  conlent,  and  accordingly  taking  up  her 
lodging,  remains  there;  if  he  dill  obdiiiatcly  refutes 
her,  his  cafe  becomes  exceedingly  didrefling  ;  the 
church  is  commonly  on  her   fide,  and   to   turn   her 


OFWOMEM.  151 

out  would  provoke  all  her  kindred  to  revenge  her 
honour  :  fo  that  he  has  no  method  left  but  to  betake 
himfelf  to  flight  till  fhe  is  otherwise  difpofed  of. 

From  the  (lory  of  Sampfon  and  Delilah,  it  would 
feem  that  the  power  of  aiking  a  female  in  marriage 
was  even  denied  to  the  young  men  of  Ifrael  ;  Sarnp- 
fon  faw  in  Timnah  a  woman  of  the  daughters  of  the 
Philiftines  who  was  beautiful,  and  he  came  and  told 
his  father  and  mother,  and  faid,  "  I  have  feeii  a 
woman  of  the  daughters  of  the  Philiftines  ;  now, 
therefore,  get  her  for  me  to  wife."  Upon  his  father 
and  mother  darting  fome  objections,  he  did  trot  fa^, 
I  will  make  ufe  of  the  power  lodged  in  my  own  hands 
to  obtain  her,  but  repeated,  "  Get  her  for  me,  for 
(he  pleafeth  me  well."  Had  it  been  a  cuftom  for 
their  young  men  in  thofe  days  to  have  courted  for 
themfelves,  it  is  highly  probable,  that  on  their  firfl 
objection,  he  would  have  applied  to  Delilah  in  per- 
fon,  inftead  of  applying  again  to  his  father  and  mo- 
ther ,after  a  refufal  ;  nor  was  his  application  to  his 
parents  for  their  advice  and  confent  only,  otherwife 
he  would  not  have  faid,  Get  her  for  me,  but  all/.." 
me  to  get  her  for  myfelf. 

From  the  ages  we  have  now  been  delineating, 
where  the  facied  records  have  afforded  us  tliefe  few 
hints  concerning  courtihip,  we  have  fcarcely  any 
thing  more  on  the  fubjeft,  till  we  come  to  the  hifto- 
ry  of  the  Greeks.  Among  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  the  Eaftj  women  were  fo  little  feen  by  the  men, 
that  they  had  but  few  opportunities  of  railing  in  their 
bofoms  that  compofed  fentimental  feeling  which  we 
moderns  denominate  love,  and  which  cannot  pro- 
perly arife  from  a  tranfient  glance;  when  they  were 
accidentally  feen,  they  only  raifed  that  animal  appe- 
tite, which  naturally  rages   (i)  ilrongly  where  it    is 


i Si  THE  HISTORY 

inflamed  by  the  climate,  .and  whetted  by  a  thoufand 
obftacles,  and  which,  in  fuch  circumftances,  fcarcely 
has  any  choice  in  its  object;  hence  all  the  obliging 
offices  of  gallantry,  and  the  tender  fenfations  of 
courtfhip,  were  in  thofe  periods  entirely  unknown; 
and  as  marriage  was  for  the  molt  part  an  act  of  bar- 
gain and  fale,  where  the  woman,  in  confideration  of 
a  price  paid  for  her  to  her  relations,  was  made  a 
Have  to  her  hufband,  the  men  did  not  ftudy  to  pleafe, 
but  to  command  and  enjoy.  If,  in  the  periods  we 
are  now  confidering,  we  meet  with  any  thing  like 
fentiment  between  the  two  fexes,  it  was  in  thofe  illi- 
cit amours  which  depended  folely  on  the  parties 
themfelves;  in  fuch  cafes,  they  fometimes  attempted 
little  flights  of  gallantry,  and  ufed  mutual  endea- 
vours to  pleafe,  becaufe  neither  party  was  a  Have  to 
the  other,  and  their  connection  was  the  remit  of  their 
own  choice,  and  not  of  a  bargain  made  for  them 
without  their  confent,  and  perhaps  without  their 
knowledge. 

Although  fcarcely  any  of  the  brute  animals  will 
fight  in  order  to  force  their  females  to  their  embrace, 
yet  all  of  them,  even  the  molt,  weak  and  timid,  will 
exert  every  nerve  in  order  to  drive  away  or  deftroy 
u  fuccefsful  rival.  Whether  this  is  properly  the  paf- 
fion  of  revenge,  or  of  felf-love,  is  not  our  province 
here  to  enquire;  we  only  obferve  that  it  fecms  to 
be  a  principle  fo  univerfally  diffufed  through  anima- 
ted nature,  and  fo  peculiarly  ingrafted  in  man,  that 
the  hiftory  of  all  ages  bears  the  mod  ample  teftimony 
of  its  exiflence. 

During  the  rude  and  uncultivated  ftate  of  fociety 
in  the  early  ages,  property  was  hardly  to  be  gained 
but  by  fighting  to  acquire,  or  kept  but  by  fighting 
to  maintain   it;  and  a  woman  being  considered  as 


OF  WOMEN.  iff 

property,  it  was  no  uncommon  mode  of  courtfhip, 
when  there  was  a  plurality  of  lovers,  to  fight  for 
the  poffefiion  of  her  aifo.  As  fociety  began  to  im- 
prove, and  fighting  became  lefs  fafhionable,  this 
barbarity  began  to  decline,  and,  inftead  of  one  lover 
being  obliged  to  fight  all  his  rivals  before  he  could 
get  pofTeflion  of  his  miftrefs,  it  became  the  cuftom 
for  the  competitors  to  give  a  public  teftimony  of  their 
powers  and  qualifications  in  the  games  and  ipectacles 
inftituted  for  that  purpofe;  a  cuftom  which,  as  we 
{hall  have  occafion  to  fee  afterwards,  continued  long- 
to  govern  the  manners  of  uncivilized  nations;  and 
in  compliance  with  which,  it  was  common  for  kings 
and  other  great  people,  when  they  had  a  daughter 
to  difpofe  of,  to  give  notice  to  all  fuch  young  men 
of  quality,  as  defigned  to  be  competitors,  that  they 
might  repair  to  their  courts  and  caftles,  to  fhew 
their  fkill  and  dexterity  in  exercifes  and  in  arms; 
when  the  prize  of  beauty  was  generally  awarded  to 
him  who  had  excelled  all  the  others.  But  as  this 
method  was  frequently  productive  of  feuds  and  ani- 
moilties,  which  ended  not  with  the  lives  of  thofe  be- 
tween whom  they  firfh  began,  but  were  handed  down 
from  one  generation  to  another,  ftained  with  mur- 
der and  with  blood,  treaties  of  marriage  by  bargain 
and  fale,  agreed  to  tby  the  relations  of  the  parties, 
marked  the  further  progrefs  of  civil  fociety  ;  many 
revolving  ages  faw  the  focial  partners  of  our  joys 
and  forrows  trafficked  for  in  this  cool  and  diipafllon- 
ate  manner,  and  ninny  parts  of  the  world,  yet  ftran- 
gers  to  friendship  and  to  love,  ftill  retain  the  defpi- 
cable  method ;  and  it  is  only  where  the  joys  of  liberty 
and  of  freedom  ihed  their  benign  influence,  that 
courtfhip  is  an  act  of  inclination  and  of  choice,  end- 
ing in  the  joining  together  the  hearts  as  well  as  the 
hands  of  the  contracting  parties. 


154  THE  HISTORY 

What  we  have  row  obferved  concerning  the 
manner  of  courtfhip,  was  too  much  the  cafe  with  the 
Greeks.  In  the  earlier  periods  of  their  hiflory,  their 
love,  if  we  may  call  it  fo,  was  only  the  animal  appe- 
tite, impetuous  and  unreitrained  either  by  cultiva- 
tion of  manners,  or  precepts  of  morality ;  and  almofl 
every  opportunity  which  fell  in  their  way  prompted 
them  to  fatisfy  that  appetite  by  force,  and  to  revenge 
the  obftru&ion  of  it  by  murder.  When  they  be- 
came a  more  civilized  people,  they  ihone  much  more 
i'luflrioufiy  in  arts  and  in  arms,  than  in  delicacy  of 
fentiment  and  elegance  of  manners  :  hence  we  fliall 
find,  that  their  method  of  making  love  was  more  di- 
rected to  compel  the  fair  fex  to  a  compliance  with 
their  wifhes  by  charms  and  philtres,  than  to  win 
them  by  the  namelefs  affiduities  and  good  offices  of  a 
lover. 

As  the  two  fexes  in  Greece  had  but  little  commu- 
nication with  each  other,  and  a  lover  was  feldom 
favoured  with  an  opportunitv  of  telling  his  paffion 
to  his  miftrefs,  he  uled  to  dilcover  it  by  inicribing 
her  name  on  the  walls  of  his  houfe,  on  the  bark  of 
the  trees  of  a  public  walk,  or  the  leaves  of  his 
his  books  ;  it  was  cuflomary  for  him  alio  to  deck 
the  door  of  the  houfe,  where  his  fair  one  lived,  with 
garlands  and  flowers,  to  make  libations  of  wine  be- 
fore it,  and  to  fprinkle  the  entrance  with  the  fame 
liquor,  in  the  manner  that  was  pracfifed  at  the  tem- 
ple of  Cupid.  Garlands  were  of  great  ufe  among 
the  Greeks  in  love  affairs  ;  when  a  man  untied  his 
garland,  it  was  a  declaration  of  his  having  been  fub- 
dued  by  that  paffion  ;  and  when  a  woman  compofed 
a  garland,  it  was  a  tacit  confeffion  of  the  fame  thing: 
and  though  we  are  not  informed  of  it,  we  may  pre- 
fume  that  both  fexes  had  methods  of  difcovering  by 


OF  WOMEN.  155 

thefe  garlands,  not  only  that  they  were  in  love,  but 
the  object  alfo  upon  whom  it  was  directed. 

Such  were  the  common  methods  of  discovering  the 
paflion  of  love,  the  methods  of  prolecuting  it  were 
hall  more  extraordinary,  and  lefs  reconcilable  to  civi- 
lization and  to  good  principles  ;  when  a  love  affair 
did  not  profper  in  the  hands  of  a  Grecian,  he  did  not 
endeavour  to  become  more  engaging  in  his  manners 
and  perfon,  he  did  not  lavifh  his  fortune  in  prefents, 
or  become  more  obliging  and  affiduous  in  his  addref- 
fes,  but  immediately  had  recourfe  to  incantations  and 
philtres ;  in  compoling  and  difpenfing  of  which,  the 
women  of  ThefTaly  were  reckoned  the  molt  famous, 
and  drove  a  traffic  in  them  of  no  inconfiderable  ad- 
vantage. Thefe  potions  were  given  by  the  women 
to  the  men,  as  well  as  by  the  men  to  the  women,  and 
were  generally  fo  violent  in  their  operation  as  for 
fome  time  to  deprive  the  perfon  who  took  them,  of 
ienfe,  and  not  uncommonly  of  life  :  their  composi- 
tion was  a  variety  of  herbs  of  the  moll  ftrong  and  vi- 
rulent nature,  which  we  (hall  not  mention  ;  but 
herbs  were  not  the  only  things  they  relied  on  for 
their  purpofe,  they  called  the  productions  of  the 
animal  and  mineral  kingdoms  to  their  afiiftance ; 
when  thefe  failed,  they  roaifed  an  image  of  wax 
before  the  fire,  reprefenting  the  object  of  their  love, 
and  as  this  became  warm,  they  flattered  themfeives 
that  the  perfon  reprefented  by  it  would  be  propor- 
tionally warmed  with  love.  When  a  lover  could 
obtain  any  thing  belonging  to  his  miilrefs,  he  ima- 
gined it  of  lingular  advantage,  and  depolited  it  in 
the  earth  beneath  the  threlhold  of  her  door.  Be- 
iides  thefe,  they  had  a  variety  of  other  methods 
equally  ridiculous  and  unavailing,  and  of  which  it 
would  be  trilling  to  give  a  minute  detail ;  we  mall, 
therefore,  j uil  take  notice  as  we  go  along,  that  fuch 


156  THE  HISTORY 

of  either  lex  as  believed  themfelves  forced  into  love 
by  the  power  of  philtres  and  charms,  commonly  had 
recourfe  to  the  fame  methods  to  difengage  them- 
felves,  and  break  the  power  of  thefe  enchantments, 
which  they  fuppofed  operated  involuntarily  on  their 
inclinations;  and  thus  the  old  women  of  Greece, 
like  the  lawyers  of  modern  times,  were  employed  to 
defeat  the  fchemes  and  operations  of  each  other,  and 
like  them  too,  it  is  prefumable,  laughed  in  their 
fleeves,.  while  they  hugged  the  gains  that  arofe  from 
vulgar  credulity. 

In  this  manner  were  the  affairs  of  love  and  gal- 
lantry carried  on  among  the  Greeks,  but  we  have 
great  reafon  to  apprehend  that  this  was  the  manner  in 
which  unlawful  amours  only  were  conducted,  for  the 
Greek  women,  as  we  have  already  feen,  had  not  a 
power  of  refufmg  fuch  matches  as  were  provided  for 
them  by  their  fathers  and  guardians;  and  confe- 
quently  a  lover  who  could  fecure  thefe  on  his  fide, 
was  always  fure  of  obtaining  the  perfon  of  his  mif- 
trefs;  and  from  the  complexion  of  the  times,  we  have 
little  reafon  to  fuppofe  that  he  was  folicitous  about 
her  efteem  and  affection.  This  being  the  cafe, 
courtihip  between  the  parties  themfelves  could  have 
little  exiflence;  and  the  methods  we  have  now  de- 
fcribed,  with  a  variety  of  others  too  tedious  to  men- 
tion, muff  have  been  thofe  by  which  they  courted 
the  unwary  female  to  her  fliame  and  difgrace,  and 
not  thofe  by  which  they  folicited  the  chafle  bride  to 
their  marriage-bed. 

The  Romans,  who  borrowed  moil  of  their  cuf- 
toms  from  the  Greeks,  alfo  followed  them  in  that  of 
endeavouring  to  conciliate  love  by  the  power  of  phil- 
tres and  of  charms;  a  fact  of  which  we  have  not 
the  leaft  room  to  doubt,  as  there  are  in  Virgil  and 


OF  WOMEN.  157 

fome  other  of  the  Latin  poets  fo  many  inftances  that 
prove  it.  But  it  depends  not  altogether  on  the  tes- 
timony of  the  poets ;  Plutarch  tells  us,  that  Lucul- 
lus,  a  Roman  general,  loft  his  fenfes,  by  a  love  po- 
tion ;  *  and  Caius  Caligula,  according  to  Suetonius, 
was  thrown  into  a  fit  of  madnefs  by  one  which  was 
given  him  by  his  wife  Csefonia;  Lucretius  too,  ac- 
cording to  fome  authors,  fell  a  facrifice  to  the  fame 
folly.  The  Romans,  like  the  Greeks,  made  ufe 
of  thefe  methods  moftly  in  their  affairs  of  gallantry 
and  unlawful  love ;  but  in  what  manner  they  ad- 
dreffed  themfelves  to  a  lady  they  intended  to  marry 
has  not  been  handed  down  to  us,  and  the  reafon  as 
we  fuppofe  is,  that  little  or  no  courtfhip  was  practi- 
sed among  them ;  women  had  no  difpofmg  power  of 
themfelves,  to  what  purpofe  was  it  then  to  apply  to 
them  for  their  confent  ?  They  were  under  perpe- 
tual guardianfhip,  and  the  guardian  having  the  fole 
power  of  difpofmg  of  them,  it  was  only  neceiTary  to 
apply  to  him.  In  the  Roman  authors,  we  frequently 
read  of  a  father,  a  brother,  or  a  guardian,  giving 
his  daughter,  his  lifter,  or  his  ward,  in  marriage, 
but  we  do  not  recollect  one  fmgle  inftance  of  being 
told  that  the  intended  bridegroom  applied  to  the  lady 
for  her  confent ;  a  circumftance  the  more  extraordi- 
nary, as  women  in  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire 
had  arifen  to  a  dignity,  and  even  to  a  freedom, 
hardly  equalled  in  modern  times. 


*  As  the  notion  of  love  potions  and  powders  is  at  this  day  not 
altogether  eradicated,  we  take  this  opportunity  of  affuring  our 
readers,  that  there  is  no  potion,  powder,  or  medicine  known  to 
mankind,  that  has  any  lpecific  power  of  railing  or  determining 
the  affections  to  any  certain  object,  and  that  all  pretenfions  1.5 
fuch  are  not  only  vain  and  illufive,  but  illegal,  and  1.0  the  laft 
degree  dangerous. 

VOL.  II.  X 


i53  THE  HISTORY 

Though  wives  were  not  purchafed  among  the 
Celtes,  Gauls,  Germans,  and  neighbouring  nations 
of  the  North  as  they  are  in  the  Eaft,  they  were 
neverthelefs  a  kind  of  (laves  to  their  hufbands ;  but 
this  fiavery  was  become  fo  familiar  by  cuftom,  that 
the  women  neither  loft  their  dignity  by  fubmitting, 
nor  the  men  their  regard  by  fubje&ing  them  to  it; 
and  as  they  often  received  portions  with  their  wives, 
and  had  fo  much  veneration  for  the  fex  in  general, 
we  (hall  be  the  lefs  furprifed  to  find,  that  in  court- 
fhip  they  behaved  with  a  fpirit  of  gallantry,  and 
mowed  a  degree  of  fentiment  to  which  the  Greeks 
and  Romans,  who  called  rhem  Barbarians,  never 
arrived;  not  contented  with  getting  poffefTion  of  the 
perfon  of  his  midrefs,  a  northern  lover  was  never 
fatisfied  without  the  ilncere  affection  of  her  hearr, 
nor  was  his  mlftrefs  ever  to  be  gained  but  by  fuch 
methods  as  plainly  indicated  to  her,  die  tendered 
attachment  from  the  molt  refpecfcable  man. 

The  ancient  Scandinavian  women  were  naturally 
chade,  proud,  and  fcarcely  lefs  emulous  of  glory 
than  the  men,  being  conitantly  taught  to  defpife 
fuch  as  fpent  their  youth  in  peacefnlobfcurity,  they 
were  not  to  be  courted  but  by  the  mod  affiduous  at- 
tendance, feconded  by  fuch  warlike  achievements 
as  the  cuilom  of  the  country  had  rendered  neceflary 
to  make  a  man  deferving  of  his  miftrefs.  On  thefe 
accounts,  we  frequently  find  a  lover  accOuing  the 
cbjecT:  of  his  paflion  by  a  minute  and  circumitantial 
detail  of  all  his  exploits,  and  all  his  accomplifhments. 
King  Regner  Lodbrog,  in  a  beautiful  ode  compofed 
by  himfeif,  in  memory  of  the  deeds  of  his  former 
days,  gives  a  ftrong  proof  of  this. 

"  We  fought  with   fwords,    fays  he,  that  day, 
wherein  I  faw  ten  thoufand  of  my  foes  rolling  in  the 


O  F  WO  M  E  N. 


159 


duft  near  a  promontary  of  England.  A  dew  of 
blood  diftilled  from  our  {words,  the  arrows  which 
flew  in  fe.arch  of  the  helmets,  bellowed  through  the 
air.  The  pleafure  of  that  day,  was  equal  to  that  of 
clafping  a  fair  virgin  in  my  arms. 

"  We  fought  with  fwords :  a  young  man  mould 
march  early  to  the  conflict  of  arms,  man  fhould  at- 
tack man,  or  bravely  refill  him;  in  this  hath  always 
confided  the  nobility  of  the  warrior.  He  who  af- 
pires  to  the  love  of  his  miitreis,  ought  to  be  dauntlefs 
in  the  clafli  of  fwords. 

"  We  fought  with  fwords  in  fifty  and  one  battles 
under  my  floating  banners.  From  my  early  youth 
I  have  learned  to  dye  the  fteel  of  my  lance  with 
blood,  but  it  is  time  to  ceafe.  Odin  hath  fent  his 
goddefies  to  conduct,  me  to  his  palace,  I  am  going  to 
be  placed  on  the  high  eft  feat,  there  to  quail"  goblets 
of  beer  with  the  ?ods;  the  hours  of  my  life  are  rol- 
led  away." 

Such,  and  many  of  the  fame  kind,  are  the  ex- 
ploits fung  by  king  Regner.  In  another  ode  of  Ha- 
rold the  valiant,  of  a  later  date,  we  find  an  enume- 
ration of  his  exploits  and  accompliihmems  joined  to- 
gether, in  order  to  give  his  miftrefs  a  favourable  idea 
of  him,  but  from  the  chorus  of  his  fong  we  learn 
that  he  did  not  fueceed. 

"  My  mips  have  made  the  tear  of  Sicily,;  there 
were  we  all  magnificent  and  fplendid  :  my  brown 
veffel,  full  of  mariners,  rapidly  rowed  to  the  atmoit 
of  my  wiflies  ;  wholly  taken  up  with  war,  I  thought 
my  courfe  would  nevei  flaeken,  and  yet  a  Ruffian 
maiden  fcorns  me. 


i6o  THE  HISTORY 

"  In  my  youth,  I  fought  with  the  people  of  Dron- 
theim,  their  troops  exceeded  ours  in  number.  It 
was  a  terrible  conflict,  I  left  their  young  king  dead 
on  the  field,  and  yet  a  Ruffian  maiden  fcorns  me. 

"  One  day,  we  were  but  fixteen  in  a  veffel,  a 
(lorm  arofe  and  fwelled  the  fea,  it  filled  the  loaded 
ffiip,  but  we  diligently  cleared  it  out  ;  thence  I 
formed  hopes  of  the  happieft  fuccefs,  and  yet  a 
Ruffian  maiden  fcorns  me. 

"  I  know  how  to  perform  eight  exercifes,  I  fight 
valiantly,  I  fit  firmly  on  horfeback,  I  am  innured  to 
fwimming,  I  know  how  to  run  along  the  fkates,  I 
dart  the  lance,  and  am  ikilful  at  the  oar,  and  yet  a 
Ruffian  maiden  fcorns  me. 

4£  Can  flie  deny,  that  young  and  lovely  maiden, 
that  on  that  day,  when  polled  near  a  city  in  the 
fouthern  land,  I  joined  battle  ;  that  then  I  valiantly 
handled  my  arms,  and  left  behind  me  lading  monu- 
ments of  my  exploits,  and  yet  a  Ruffian  maiden 
fcorns  me. 

"  I  was  born  in  the  high  country  of  Norway, 
where  the  inhabitants  handle  their  bows  fo  well ; 
but  I  preferred  guiding  my  fhips,  the  dread  of  pea- 
fants,  among  the  rocks  of  the  ocean,  and  far  from 
the  habitations  of  men.  I  have  run  through  all  the 
feas  with  my  veffels,  and  yet  a  Ruffian  maiden  fcorns 
me." 

Befides  thefe  methods  of  courting,  or  afpiring  to 
the  good  graces  of  the  fair,  by  arms  and  by  arts,  the 
ancient  Northerns  had  feveral  others ;  and  among 
thefe  it  would  feem  charms  and  incantations  were 
reckoned  not  the  leafl  powerful.     Odin,  who  flrft 


OF  WOMEN.  161 

taught  them  their  mythology,  and  whom  they  after- 
wards worfhipped  as  their  fupreme  deity,  fays,  in 
one  of  his  difcourfes  : 

"  If  I  afpire  to  the  love  and  the  favour  of  the 
chafteft  virgin,  I  can  bend  the  mind  of  the  fnowy 
armed  maiden,  and  make  her  yield  wholly  to  my 
defires. 


"  I  know  a  fecret  which  I  will  never  lofe,  it 
to  render  myfelf  always  beloved  of  my  miftrefs. 


is 


"  But  I  know  one  which  I  will  never  impart  to 
any  female  except  my  own  filter,  or  to  her  whom  I 
hold  in  my  arms.  Whatever  is  known  only  to  one's 
felf  is  always  of  great  value." 

In  the  Hava-Maal,  or  fublime  difcourfes  of  Odin, 
we  have  fome  Iketches  of  directions  how  to  proceed 
in  courtlhip,  fo  as  to  be  fuccefsful  without  the  aflift- 
ance  of  any  charm  or  fecret : 

"  He  who  would  make  himfelf  beloved  of  a  mai- 
den, mud  entertain  her  with  fine  difcourfes,  and 
offer  her  engaging  prefents;  he  mud  alfo  inceflantly 
praife  her  beauty.  It  requires  good  fenfe  to  be  a 
ikilful  lover — If  you  would  bend  your  miftrefs  to 
your  paffion,  you  muft  only  go  by  night  to  fee  her ; 
when  a  thing  is  known  to  a  third  perfon,  it  never 
fucceeds." 

The  young  women  of  the  nations  we  are  confider- 
ing,  not  relying  upon  what  fame  had  reported  con- 
cerning the  acquifitions  of  their  lovers,  frequently 
defired  to  be  themfelves  the  witneffes  of  them,  and 
the  young  men  were  not  lefs  eager  in  feizing  every 
opportunity  to  gratify  their  defires.     This  is  abunr 


1 62  THE  HISTORY 

dantly  proved   by  an  anecdote   in    the   hiilory  of 
Charles  and  Grvmer,  two  kings  of  Sweden  : 

"  Grymer,  a  youth  early  diilinguimed  in  arms, 
who  well  knew  how  to  dye  his  fword  in  the  blood  of 
his  enemies,  to  run  over  the  craggy  mountains,  to 
wreflle,  to  play  at  chefs,  trace  the  motions  of  the 
liars,  and  throw  far  from  him  heavy  weights,  fre- 
quently mewed  his  ikiil  in  the  chamber  of  the  dam- 
fels,  before  the  king's  lovely  daughter  ;  defirous  of 
acquiring  her  regard,  he  difplayed  his  dexterity  in 
handling  his  weapons,  and  the  knowledge  he  had 
attained  m  the  fdences  he  had  learned  ;  at  length  he 
ventured  to  make  this  demand  :  Wilt  thou,  O  fair 
princefs,  if  I  may  obtain  the  king's  confent,  accept 
of  me  for  a  hufband  ?  To  which  fhe  prudently  re- 
plied, I  mud  not  make  that  choice  myfelf,  but  go 
thou  and  offer  the  fame  propofal  to  my  father." 

The  fequel  of  the  ftory  informs  us,  that  Grymer 
accordingly  made  his  propofal  to  the  king,  who  an- 
fwered  him  in  a  rage,  that  though  he  had  learned 
indeed  to  handle  his  arms,  yet  as  he  had  never 
gained  a  fignal  viftory,  nor  given  a  banquet  to  the 
beafts  of  the  field,  he  had  no  pretentions  to  his 
daughter,  and  concluded  by  pointing  out  to  him,  in 
a  neighbouring  kingdom,  a  hero  renowned  in  arms, 
whom,  if  he  could  conquer,  the  princefs  fhould  be 
given  him  :  that  on  waiting  on  the  princefs  to  tell 
her  what  had  palTed,  me  was  greatly  agitated,  and 
felt  in  the  moil  fenfibie  manner  for  the  fafety  of  her 
lover,  whom  (he  was  afraid  her  father  had  devoted 
to  death  for  his  prefumption  ;  that  fhe  provided 
him  with  a  fuit  of  impenetrable  armour  and  a  trufty 
fword,  with  which  he  went,  and  having  flain  his 
adverfary,  and  the  molt  part  of  his  warriors,  return- 
ed victorious,  and  received  her  as  the  reward  of  his 


OP  WOMEN,  163 

valour.  Singular  as  this  method  of  obtaining  a  fair 
lady  by  a  price  paid  in  blood  may  appear,  it  was  not 
peculiar  to  the  northerns  :  we  have  already  taken 
notice  of  the  price  which  David  paid  for  the  daugh- 
ter of  Saul,  and  ihall  add,  that  among  the  Sac ce,  a 
people  of  ancient  Scythia,  a  cuftom  fomething  of 
this  kind,  but  flail  more  extraordinary,  obtained  ; 
every  young  man  who  made  his  addrelTes  to  a  lady, 
was  obliged  to  engage  her  in  fmgle  combat ;  if  he 
vanquished,  he  led  her  off  in  triumph,  and  became 
her  hufband  and  fovereign  ;  if  he  was  conquered, 
fne  led  him  off  in  the  fame  manner,  and  made  him 
her  hufband  and  her  Have. 

From  the  preceding  obfervations,  it  appears,  that 
the  ancient  northerns  placed  their  principal  felicity  in 
the  enjoyments  of  courtfhip  and  of  love,  as  they 
compared  even  the  pleafures  of  vanquifhing  their 
enemies  to  this  laft,  as  to. the  highell  poffible  ftand- 
ard  of  pleafure.  It  likewife  appears,  that,  inftiga- 
ted  by  fentiment,  and  actuated  by  freedom,  they 
made  application  firil  to  the  object  of  their  withes, 
to  know  whether  they  would  be  agreeable  to  her, 
before  they  would  proceed  to  folicit  the  confent  of 
parents  or  relations ;  fentiments  which  fhone  with  no 
imall  degree  of  luftre,  even  through  that  fcene  of 
horrid  barbarity  in  which  they  were  conitantly  im- 
merfed. 

As  nothing  could  be  more  humble  and  compiai- 
fant  than  the  men  when  they  prefented  their  addref- 
fes  to  the  fair,  fo  nothing  could  be  more  haughty  or 
determined  than  the  anlwers  and  behaviour  of  fuch 
ladies  as  did  not  approve  of  their  luitors.  Gida,  the 
daughter  of  a  rich  Norwegian  lord,  when  courted 
by  Harald  Harfagre,  fternly  anfwered,  that  if  he 
afpired  to  the  merit  of  her  love,  he  rauft  iignalize 


j«4  THE  HISTORY 

himfelf  by  exploits  of  a  more  extraordinary  nature 
than  any  he  had  yet  performed  ;  nor  was  fuch  a  re- 
ception peculiar  to  her ;  it  was  the  cuftorn  of  the 
times  ;  and  the  manners,  in  a  great  meafure,  con- 
tributed to  render  fuch  a  cuftom  necefTary  ;  for  be- 
fides  the  perfonal  fafety  of  a  wife,  depending  fo 
much  on  the  prowefs  of  the  man  me  married,  valour 
was  the  only  road  to  riches  and  to  honours,  and 
even  fubfiftence  frequently  depended  in  a  great  mea- 
fure upon  the  fpoils  taken  in  the  excurlions  of  war. 
But  their  haughty  behaviour  was  not  entirely  con- 
fined to  words ;  it  is  fuppofed,  though  we  do  not 
venture  to  affirm  it,  that  when  a  fuitor  had  gone 
/hrough  the  exercife  of  his  arms  before  them,  and 
when  difpleafed  with  his  performance,  they  wanted 
to  put  a  negative  upon  his  wifh.es,  inflead  of  a  verbal 
reply,  they  fometimes  arofe  haftily,  matched  the 
arms  from  his  hands,  and  mewed  him  that  they 
could  handle  them  with  more  dexterity  than  himfelf ; 
a  proof  which  not  only  mortified  all  his  vanity,  but 
impofed  eternal  filence  on  his  pretenfions  to  love. 


OF  WOMEN.  165 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 


The  fame  Subjecl  continued. 


ROM  this  account  of  the  courtiliip  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  North,  it  is  eafy  to  fee,  that 
they  were,  in  this  refpecl  at  leail,  far  advanced  be- 
yond the  favage  barbarity  of  many  nations  now  ex- 
ifting;  among  whom  marriages  are  commonly  con- 
tracted with  little  previous  attachment,  and  as  little 
regard  to  the  mutual  inclination  of  the  parties  for 
each  other.  Savages,  in  general,  not  being  deter- 
mined to  marry  for  any  attachment  to  a  particular 
woman;  but  becaufe  they  find  that  ftate  necefiary 
to  their  comfortable  fubfiftence,  and  conformable  to 
the  fafhion  of  their  country,  are  not  folicitous  who 
fhall  become  their  wives;  and,  therefore,  commonly 
leave  the  choice  of  them  to  their  parents  and  rela- 
tions; a  method  which  excludes  all  the  joys,  and 
all  the  pains  of  courtfliip,  from  their  fyftem.  But 
as  this  is  not  univerfally  the  cafe  in  favage  life,  we 
fhall  give  a  fhort  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  addrefs  the  females,  whom  they  have  felefted 
as  the  objects  of  their  love. 

The  method  of  afking  in  courtiliip,  as  well  as  that 
of  refufing,  among  fome  of.  the  tribes  of  American 
Indians,  is  the  moft  fimple  that  can  pofTibly  be  divi- 
fed.  When  the  lover  goes  to  viiit  his  miftreis,  he 
only  begs  leave  to  enter  her  hut  by  figns  ;  which 
having  obtained,  he  goes  in,  and  fits  clown  by  her 
in  the  mod  refpectful  lilence;  if  fhe  fuffers  him  to 
remain  there  without  interruption,    her  doing  fo  is 

vol.  11.  Y 


i-66  THE  HISTORY 

corifenting  to  his  fuit;  and  they  go  to  bed  together 
without  further  ceremony:  but  if  the  lover  has  any 
thing  given  him  to  eat  or  drink,  it  is  a  reiufal; 
though  the  woman  is  obliged  to  fit  by  him  till  lie  has 
fmifhed  his  repaft ;  after  which  he  retires  in  filence. 
In  Canada,  courtihip  is  a  dranger  to  that  coy  referve, 
and  feeming  fecrecy,  which  politenefs  has  introduced 
among  the  inhabitants  of  civilized  nations.  When 
a  man  and  woman  meet,  though  they  never  faw  each 
other  before,  if  he  is  captivated  with  her  charms, 
he  declares  his  pafiion  in  the  politeft  manner ;  and 
me,  with  the  fame  honed:  fimplicity,  anfwers,  Yes, 
or  No,  without  further  deliberation.  It  was  for- 
merly a  cudom,  among  the  Brazilians,  that  as  foon 
as  a  man  had  flaiii  an  enemy,  he  had  a  right  to  court 
a  bride;  but  that  cudom  is  now  abolifhed;  and  the 
fuitor  is  now  obliged  to  aik  the  confent  of  the  girl's 
parents;  which  he  no  looner  obtains,  than  he  hadens 
to  the  bride,  and  forces  her  to  his  embrace.  In 
Formofa,  they  diiler  lb  much  from  the  fimplicity  of 
the  Canadians,  that  it  would  be  reckoned  the  great- 
efl  indecency  in  the  man  to  declare,  or  the  woman 
to  hear,  a  declaration  of  the  pafiion  of  love.  The 
lover  is  therefore,  obliged  to  depute  his  mother,  lif- 
ter, or  fome  female  relation ;  and  from  any  of  them 
the  foft  tail  may  be  heard,  without  ofFence  to  deli- 
cacy or  to  cudom. 

Such  are  the  cudoms  which,  among  fome  favage 
nations,  regulate  the  affairs  of  courtihip;  cudoms 
which  mew,  that,  even  in  the  mod  rude  and  uncul- 
tivated date,  men  are  hardly  more  uniform  in  their 
ideas  and  aftions,  than  when  polilhed  by  civilization 
and  fociety.  The  lower  clafs  of  the  people,  who 
inhabit  Maffachufetts  Bay,  and  have  borrowed  their 
ideas,  perhaps,  from  the  Indians,  or  brought  them 
from  fome  of  thofe  countries  from  which  they  emi- 


CF  WOMEN.  487 

grated,  have  a  remarkable  method  of  GoHrtfliip. 
When  a  man  foils  in  love  with  a  woman,  he  full  pro- 
pores  his  conditions  to  her  parents,  without  whole 
confent  no  marriage  in  the  colony  can  take  place;  if 
they  approve  of  him,  he  repairs  to  their  houfe  in 
the  evening,  in  order  to  make  his  court  to  the  young; 
woman.  At  their  ufual  hour,  the  old  people,  and 
the  reft  of  the  family,  go  to  bed,  leaving  the  lovers 
together  alfo.  Some  time  after,  they  go  to  bed  to- 
gether alfo;  but  without  ilripping  themfelvcs  naked, 
to  avoid  fcandal  :  if  they  are  pieaftd  with  each  other, 
the  bans  are  published,  and  they  are  married  with- 
out dely;  if  not,  they  part,  and  perhaps  never  fee 
one  another  more;  nnlefs,  as  it  feme  times  happens, 
the  woman  mould  be  with  child;  when  the  man  is 
obliged  to  taarry  her,  under  pain  of  excomrnunka- 
tion.  This  has  a  great  refemblance  to  a  cuftom  ufed 
in  fome  places  by  the  favages,  where  a  lover  goes 
in  the  night  to  the  hut  of  his  miftref:,  (teals  fikiitlv 
in,  lights  a  match  at  the  fire,  and  cautiouily  ap- 
proaches her  bed,  holding  the  match  before  lifm  ; 
if  (lie  blows  it  out,  it  is  a  fign  of  her  approbation, ; 
and  mews  that  fhe  wifnes  the  affair  to  be  traniafted 
in  darknefs  and  fecrecy  :  he  takes  the  hint,  and  im- 
mediately  lays  himfelf  down  by  her  fide.  U  me 
fufrers  the  light  to  remain  burning,  it  is  a  8em*ala 
and  he  is  obliged  to  retire. 


&' 


Before  we  take  leave  of  the  European  colonies  in 
America,  we  fhall  mention  another  fmguiarity  in 
the  behaviour  of  lovers  in  rennfylvatita  j  which 
fhews  that  the  women  have  not  even  that  degree  of 
delicacy,  which  we  have  juft  now  feen  them  poifefied 
of  in  favage  life  :  when  two  Pennfyivaman  lovers 
meet  with  any  remarkable  eppofition  from  their 
friends,  they  go  oft  together  on  h'-rleback  ;  the  lady 
riding  before,  and   the  mail  tehind  her.       In  this 


i63  THE  HISTORY 

fituation,  they  prefent  themfelves  before  a  magif- 
trate  ;  to  whom  flie  declares,  that  fhe  has  run  away 
with  her  lover,  and  has  brought  him  there  to  be 
married  :  fo  folemn  an  avowal,  the  magistrate  is  not 
at  liberty  to  reject,  and  they  are  married  accord- 
ingly. 

It  has  long  been  a  common  obfervation  among 
mankind,  that  love  is  the  mod  fruitful  fource  of  in- 
vention ;  and  that  in  this  cafe  the  imagination  of  a 
woman  is  ftill  more  fruitful  of  invention  and  expedi- 
ent than  that  of  a  man  ;  agreeably  to  this,  we  are 
told,  that  the  women  of  the  ifland  of  Amboyna,  be- 
ing cloiely  watched  on  all  occafions,  and  deftitute  of 
the  art  of  writing;  by  which,  in  other  places,  the 
fentiments  are  conveyed  at  any  difhmce,  have  me- 
thods of  making  known  their  inclinations  to  their 
lovers,  and  of  fixing  aflignations  with  them,  by 
means  of  nofe-gays,  and  plates  of  fruit  fo  difpofed, 
as  to  convey  their  fentiments  in  the  moft  explicit 
manner  :  by  thefe  means  their  courtfhip  is  generally 
carried  on,  and  by  altering  the  difpofition  of  fymbols 
made  ufe  of,  they  contrive  to  fignify  their  refufal, 
with  the  fame  explicitnefs  as  their  approbation.  In 
fome  of  the  neighbouring  illands,  when  a  young 
man  has  fixed  his  affection,  like  the  Italians,  he  goes 
from  time  to  time  to  her  door,  and  plays  upon  fome 
mufical  inflrument ;  if  fhe  gives  confent,  fhe  comes 
out  to  him,  and  they  fettle  the  affair  of  matrimony 
between  them  :  if,  after  a  certain  number  of  thefe 
kind  of  vifits,  me  does  not  appear,  it  is  a  denial ; 
and  the  difappointed  lover  is  abliged  to  defiil. 

We  fhall  fee  afterward,  when  we  come  to  treat 
of  the  matrimonial  compact,  that,  in  fome  places, 
the  ceremony  of  marriage  confjlf s  in  tying  the  gar- 
ments of  the  young  couple  together,  as  an  emblem 


OF  WOMEN.  169 

of  that  union  which  ought  to  bind  their  affections 
and  interefls.  This  ceremony  has  afforded  a  hint 
for  lovers  to  explain  their  paffion  to  their  miftreffes, 
in  the  moft  intelligible  manner,  without  the  help  of 
fpeech,  or  the  poffibility  of  offending  the  nicefl  de- 
licacy. A  lover  in  thefe  parts,  who  is  too  modefl 
to  declare  himfelf,  feizes  the  firft  opportunity  he 
can  find,  of  fitting  down  by  his  miflrefs,  and  tying 
his  garment  to  hers,  in  the  manner  that  is  pra&ifed 
in  the  ceremony  of  marriage  :  if  fhe  permits  him  to 
finifli  the  knot,  without  any  interruption,  and  does 
not  foon  after  cut  or  loofe  it,  fhe  thereby  gives  her 
confent ;  if  fhe  loofes  it,  he  may  tye  it  again  on 
fome  other  occafion,  when  fhe  may  prove  more  pro- 
pitious 5  but  if  fhe  cuts  it,  his  hopes  are  blafted  for- 
ever. 

Both  thefe  laft  mentioned  cuftoms  are  peculiar  to 
the  Eaft  ;  and  they  are  almoft  the  only  ones  we  can 
find  in  thefe  extenfive  regions,  concerning  courtfhip, 
that  are  worth  relating  ;  for  where  the  two  fexes  are 
denied  all  communication  with  each  other,  it  is  im- 
poffible  there  fhould  be  any  courtfhip ;  where  the 
venal  bride  is  bought  from  her  ftill  more  venal  pa- 
rents to  be  the  Have  not  the  companion,  of  her  huf- 
band  ;  neither  are  they  poffeffed  of  feelings  neceffary 
for  the  delicately  fentimental  prelude  of  the  focial 
ftate  of  wedlock. 

It  is  obfervable  in  courtfhip,  that  wherever  wo- 
men are  free  and  independent,  they  are  addreffed 
by  the  men  in  the  manner  that  is  fuppofed  will  be 
moll  pleafing  to  them  ;  where  they  are  not  free,  the 
only  care  of  the  men  is  to  get  poffeffion  of  their 
perfons.  The  Author  of  Nature  having  made  the 
female  form  beautiful  and  engaging,  man  is  fre- 
quently captivated  with  it  at  firft  fight :  but  ?,■$  man 


iyo  THE  HISTORY 

is  a  lefs  comely  and  lefs  attractive  animal,  he  does 
not  fo  commonly  infinuate  himlelf  into  the  heart  of 
a  woman  at  his  firit  appearance,  but  muft  do  it  by  a 
long  train  of  little  affiduities,  and  attention  to  pro- 
mote her  happinefs  and  pleafure.  According  to  this 
obfervation,  we  find  the  courtfhip  of  alrfioit  every 
people,  in  whatever  degree  they  iiand  in  the  fcale  of 
civil  fociety,  conftantly  tendering  to  the  fair  lex 
thofe  objects  and  amufements  in  which  they  take 
the  greatcft  delight.  In  many  of  the  politer  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  and  elfewhere,  thefe  are  prece- 
dency, titles,  pomp,  and  pageantry.  In  America, 
they  are  beads,  (hells,  and  enormous  quantities  of 
red  paint  ;  and  among  the  frigid  Laplanders,  brandy 
fupplies  the  place  of  all.  A  Lapland  lover  is  faid  to 
pay  little  regard  to  beauty,  virtue,  or  accomplish- 
ments, but  only  to  the  quantity  of  rein-deer  poflefled 
by  the  object  of  his  choice  ;  and  fhe  and  her  rela- 
tions pay  as  little  regard  to  any  thing  concerning 
him,  but  the  quantity  of  brandy  with  which  he  treats 
them  during  the  courtfhip. 

The  delicacy  of  a  Lapland  lady,  which  is  not  in 
the  lead  hurt  by  being  drunk  as  often  as  fhe  can  pro- 
cure liquour,  would  be  wounded  in  the  mod  fenfi- 
ble  manner,  fhould  (lie  deign  at  firlt  to  liften  to  the 
declaration  of  a  lover;  he  is  therefore  obliged  to  em- 
ply  a  match-maker  to  fpeakfor  him  J  and  this  match- 
maker mult  never  go  empty-handed;  and  of  all  other 
prefents,  that  which  molt  infaiiiblv  fecures  him  a 
favourable  reception,  is  brandy.  Having,  by  the 
eloquence  of  this,  gained  leave  to  bring  the  lover 
along  with  him,  and  being,  together  with  the  lover's 
father  or  other  neareit  male  relation,  arrived  at  the 
houfe  where  the  lady  relides,  the  father  and  match- 
maker are  invited  to  walk  in,  but  the  lover  mult 
wait  patiently  at  the  door  till  further  folicited.     The 


OF  WOMEN.  i7i 

patties,  in  the  mean  time,  open  their  fait  to  the  other 
ladies  of  the  family,  not  forgetting  to  employ  m  their 
favour  their  irrefinVable  advocate  brandy,  a  liberal 
tliftribution  of  which  is  reckoned  the  flrongefl:  proof 
of  the  lover's  affection.  When  they  have  all  been 
warmed  by  the  lover's  bounty,  he  is  brought  into  the 
houfc,  pays  his  compliments  to  the  family,  and  is 
defired  to  partake  of  their  cheer,  though  at  this  in- 
terview feldom  indulged  with  a  fight  of  his  miftrefs; 
but  if  he  is,  he  falutes  her,  and  offers  her  prefents 
of  rein-deer  flans,  tongues,  &c. ;  all  which,  while 
furrounded  with  her  friends,  Hie  pretends  to  refufe; 
but,  at  the  fame  time  giving  her  lover  a  fignal  to  go 
out,  fhe  foon  ft-eals  after  him,  and  is  no  more  that 
modefl  creature  me  affected  to  appear  in  company. 
The  lover  nowfolicitsforthe  completion  of  his  wim.es : 
if  fhe  is  filent,  it  is  conftrued  into  confent;  but  if  flie 
throws  his  prefents  on  the  ground  with  difdain,  the 
match  is  broke  off  for  ever. 

It  is  generally  obferved,  that  women  enter  into 
matrimony  with  more  willingnefs,  and  lefs  anxious 
care  and  folicitude,  than  men,  for  which  many  rea- 
fons  naturally  lugged  themfelves  to  the  intelligent 
reader.  The  women  of  Greenland  are,  however, 
in  many  cafes,  an  exception  to  this  general  rule.  A 
Greenlander,  having  fixed  his  affection,  acquaints 
his  parents  with  it  ;  they  acquaint  the  parents  of  the 
girl  ;  upon  which  two  female  negociators  are  fent 
to  her,  who,  led  they  ihould  fhock  her  delicacy,  do 
not  enter  directly  on  the  mbjec"t  of  their  embafTy, 
but  launch  out  in  praifes  of  the  lover  they  mean  to 
recommend,  of  his  houfe,  of  his  furniture,  and 
whatever  elfe  belongs  to  him,  but  dwell  moff  parti- 
cularly on  his  dexterity  in  catching  of  feals.  She, 
^pretended  to  be  affronted,  runs  away,  Jearicg  the 
ringlets  of  her  hair   as  (he  retires;  after,  "which  the 


t?a  THE  HISTORY' 

two  females,  having  obtained  a  tacit  confent  front 
her  parents,  fearch  for  her,  and,  on  difcovering  her 
lurking-place,  drag  her  by  force  to  the  houfe  of  her 
lover,  and  there  leave  her.  For  fome  days  fhe  fits 
with  dilhevelled  hair,  filent  and  dejected,  refilling 
every  kind  of  fuftenance,  and  at  lad,  if  kind  intrea- 
ties  cannot  prevail  upon  her,  is  compelled  by  force, 
and  even  by  blows,  to  complete  the  marriage  with 
her  huiband.  It  fometimes  happens,  that  when  the 
female  match-makers  arrive  to  propofe  a  lover  to  a 
Greenland  young  woman,  me  either  faints,  or  ef- 
capes  to  the  uninhabited  mountains,  where  fhe  re- 
mains till  fhe  is  difcovered  and  carried  back  by  her 
relations,  or  is  forced  to  return  by  hunger  and  cold  ; 
in  both  which  cafes,  (lie  previoufly  cuts  off  her  hair ; 
a  mod  infallible  indication,  that  me  is  determined 
never  to  marry. 

This  peculiar  difpofition  of  the  Greenland  women 
is  not  nature ;  her  dictates  are  every  where  nearly 
the  fame  ;  it  is  the  horror  which  arifes  at  the  flavilh 
and  dependent  ftate  of  the  wives  of  that  country, 
and  the  Hill  more  abject  and  deferted  flate  of  its 
widows ;  for  the  wives,  befides  being  obliged  to 
do  every  fervile  office,  are  frequently  fubjecled  to 
the  mercilefs  correction  of  their  huibands.  The 
widows,  when  they  have  no  longer  a  huiband  to 
hunt  and  nfh  for  them,  are  deftitute  of  every  refource, 
and  frequently  perifli  of  hunger:  hence  matrimony, 
which  in  mod  places  makes  the  condition  of  women 
more  independent  and  comfortable,  among  them 
renders  it  truly  wretched  ;  and  hence  they  enter  into 
it  with  fo  much  reluctance  and  regret. 

Women   were  formerly  treated  little  better  in 
fome  parts  of  Europe.     In  Spain,  they  had  fcarcely, 
any  power  in  bellowing  themfelves  on,  or  refuting 


OF  WOMEN.  173 

the  offers  of,  a  lover.  As  the  empire  of  common 
fenfe  began  to  extend  itfelf,  they  began  to  claim  a 
privilege,  at  lead  of  being  confulted  in  the  choice  of 
the  partners  of  their  lives.  Many  fathers  and  guar- 
dians, however,  hurt  by  this  female  innovation,  and 
puffed  up  with  Spanilh  pride,  (till  infilled  on  forcing 
their  daughters  to  marry  according  to  their  pleafure, 
by  means  of  duennas,  locks,  hunger,  and  even 
fometimes  poifon  and  daggers:  but  as  nature  will 
revolt  againft  every  fpecies  of  oppreffion  and  injus- 
tice, the  ladies  have  for  fome  time  begun  to  triumph ; 
the  authority  of  fathers  and  guardians  begins  to  de- 
cline, and  lovers  find  themfelves  obliged  to  apply  to 
the  affections  of  the  fair,  as  well  as  to  the  pride  and 
avarice  of  her  relations.  As  women  of  fafmbn  are, 
however,  feldom  allowed  to  go  abroad,  and  never  to 
=ive  male  vifiiors  at  home,  unlefs  with  the  confent 
hr-ir  relations,  or  by  the  contrivance  of  a  duenna, 
\  apuiication-is  commonly  made  in  a  manner  aim  oft 
to  the  Spaniards  themfelves:  the  gallant  fets 
felf  to  compofe  fome  love  fonnets,  as  expreflive 
as  he  can,  not  only  of  the  fituation  of  his  heart,  but 
of  every  particular  circumtlance  between  him  and  the 
lady,  not  forget; ng  to  lard  them  every  here  and 
there  with  the  moll  extravagant  encomiums  on  her 
beauty,  and  her  merit:  thefe  he  flags  in  the  night 
below  her  window,  accompanied  with  his  lute,  or 
fometimes  with  a  whole  band  of  mufic.  The  more 
piercingly  cold  the  air,  the  more  the  lady's  heart  is 
fuppofed  to  be  thawed  with  the  patient  fu  fferance  of 
her  lover,  who,  from  night  to  night,  frequently 
continues  this  exercife  for  many  hours,  heavino-  the 
deeped  fighs,  and  catting  the  mod  piteous  looks  to- . 
ward  the  window;  at  which,  if  his  goddefs  at  lad 
deigns  to  appear,  and  drop  him  a  curtefy,  he  is  fu- 
perlatively  paid  for  all  his  watching  j  but  if  (lie  bleu 
fes  him  with  a  fmile,  he  is  ready  to  run  di(lra£ted. 
vol.  11.  Z 


j 74  THE  HISTORY 

In  mofl  of  the  countries  we  have  hitherto  men- 
tioned, love,  if  we  may  call  it  fo,  is  carried  on 
without  fentiment  or  feeling  :  in  Spain  it  is  quite  the 
reverie  ;  there,  it  flows  in  an  uninterrupted  courfe 
of  intellectual  fenfations,  exprefling  almoft  in  an  infi- 
nite variety  of  different  ways.  A  Spanifh  lover 
hardly  thinks,  fpeaks,  or  even  dreams,  of  any  thing 
but  his  miftrefs  ;  when  he  fpeaks  to  her,  it  is  with 
the  utmoft.  refpect  and  deference  ;  when  he  fpeaks 
of  her,  it  is  in  the  mofl;  hyperbolically  romantic 
ftyle  ;  and  when  he  approaches  her,  you  would  think 
that  he  was  approaching  a  divinity.  But  all  this  de- 
ference to  her  godfhip,  all  this  patient  fuflerance 
under  her  window,  is  not  enough  ;  and  as  none  but 
the  brave  can  deferve  the  fair,  he  is  ready  at  all 
times,  not  only  to  fight  all  her  enemies,  and  his  own 
rivals,  but  to  feek  every  opportunity  of  fignalizing 
his  courage,  that  he  may  fliew  himfelf  able  to  pro- 
tect her.  Among  all  thefe  opportunities,  none  are 
fo  eagerly  courted  as  the  fighting  with  bulls ;  a  hor- 
rid amufement,  for  which  Spain  is  remarkable,  where 
the  ladies  fit  as  fpectators,  while  the  cavaliers  en- 
counter thefe  furious  animals,  previoufly  exafperated, 
and  turned  loofe  upon  them,  and  where,  according 
to  the  farcaftic  phrafe  of  Butler, 

"  — > — ' —  he  obtains  the  nobleil  fpcufe, 


"  Who  widows  greateft  herds  of  cows." 

Some  of  the  human  paflions  are  fo  nearly  allied  to 
each  other,  that  the  tranfltion  from  this  to  that,  is 
hardly  perceptible  to  the  mind,  and  feems  as  eafy 
and  natural  as  it  is  to  ftep  from  the  threfliold  into 
the  houfe.  Of  this  kind  is  friendfliip  with  woman, 
which  has  been  called  fifler  to  love ;  and  we  may 
add,  that  to  pity  a  woman,  who  is  tolerably  hand- 
fome  and  deferving,  and  at  the  fame  time  to  guard 


OF  WOMEN.  175 

againfl  every  fofter  fenfation,  is  abfolutely  impofli- 
ble.  The  Spaniards,  tranfpoiing  the  peribns  a&ed 
upon  by  this  emotion,  and  finding  that  the  fame 
caufes  rauft  produce  the  fame  effects  on  the  tender 
and  companionate  natures  of  women,  endeavour, 
inftead  of  attaching  them  by  pleafure,  as  in  other 
countries,  to  fecure  them  by  exciting  their  pity  and 
compaffion,  not  only  through  every  part  of  the 
courtfhip  we  have  now  related,  but  ftill  more  forci- 
bly in  acuftom,  which  they  practifed  fome  time  ago 
at  Madrid,  and  in  other  parts  of  Spain  ;  when  a 
company  of  people,  who  called  themfelves  difcipliants 
or  whippers,  partly  infligated  by  fuperftition,  and 
partly  by  love,  paraded  the  ftreets  every  Good 
Friday,  attended  by  all  the  religious  orders,  feveral 
of  the  courts  of  judicature,  all  the  companies  of 
trades,  and  fometimes  the  king  and  all  his  court.— 
The  whippers  were  arrayed  in  long  caps  in  the  form 
ofafugar  loaf,  with  white  gloves,  and  fhoes  of  the 
fame  colour  ;  a  waiftcoat,  the  ileeves  of  which  were 
tied  with  ribbons  of  fuch  colours  as  they  thought 
moll  agreeable  to  the  fancy  of  the  ladies  they  ador- 
ed ;  and  in  their  hands  were  whips  made  of  foiall 
cords,  to  the  ends  of  which  were  cemented  little 
bits  of  wax  ftuck  with  pieces  of  broken  glafs  ;  with 
thefe  they  whipped  themfelves  as  they  went  along, 
and  he  who  fhewed  the  leafl  mercy  to  his  carcafe,  was 
fure  of  the  greatefl  pity  from  his  dulcinea.  When 
they  happened  to  meet  a  handfome  woman  in  the 
flreet,  fome  one  of  them  took  care  to  whip  himfelf 
fo  as  to  make  his  blood  fpurt  upon  her  ;  an  honour 
for  which  (he  never  failed  humbly  to  thank  him. 
When  any  of  them  came  oppofite  to  the  window  of 
his  miilrefs,  he  began  to  lay  upon  himfelf  with  re- 
doubled fury,  while  (lie,  from  her  balcony,  looked 
complacently  on  the  horrid  fcene,  and  knowing  it 
was  acted  in  honour  of  her  charms,  thought  herfeli" 


176  THE  HISTORY 

greatly  obliged  to  her  lover,   and  feldoni  failed  to 
reward  him  accordingly. 

Not  lefs  lingular,  and  much  of  the  fame  nature,  is 
a  method  of  courtmip  which  Lady  Montague  faw  at 
a  proceffion  in  Conflantinople,  when  the  Grand 
Signior  was  going  out  to  take  the  command  of  an 
army. 

"  The  rear,  fays  fhe,  was  clofed  by  the  volun- 
teers, who  came  to  beg  the  honour  of  dying  in  his 
fervice ;  they  were  all  naked  to  the  middle,  fome 
had  their  arms  pierced  through,  with  arrows  left  flick- 
ing in  them,  others  had  them  (ticking  in  their  heads, 
the  blood  trinkling  down  their  faces:  fome  flafhed 
their  arms  with  fharp  knives,  making  the  blood 
fpring  out  on  the  bye-flan  ders ;  and  this  is  looked 
on  as  an  exprefhon  of  their  zeal  for  glory.  And  I 
am  told,  that  fome  make  ufe  of  it  to  advance  their 
love  ;  and  when  they  came  near  the  window  where 
their  miftrefs  ftands,  all  the  women  being  vailed  to 
fee  this  fpectacle,  they  flick  another  arrow  for  her 
fake,  who  gives  fome  fign  of  approbation  and  en- 
couragement to  this  kind  of  gallantry." 

We  cannot  help  condemning  cufloms  fo  barba- 
rous in  the  fevereft  terms  ;  but  while  we  condemn 
them,  we  have  the  flrongefl  hopes  that  they  no 
longer  exifl  ;  while  in  Scotland,  one  of  a  fomewhat 
fimilar  nature,  fcarcely  lefs  rediculous,  or  lefs  dan- 
gerous, is  not  yet  obliterated.  At  a  concert  annu- 
ally held  on  St.  Cecilia's  day  in  Edinburgh,  mofl 
of  the  celebrated  beauties  are  affembled  ;  when  the 
concert  is  ended,  their  adorers  retire  to  a  tavern, 
when  he  that  drinks  thelargefl  quantity  to  the  health 
of  his  miflrefs,  according  to  the  phrafe  they  make 
ufe  of,  faves  her,  and  dubs  her  a  public  toaft  for  the 


OF  WOMEN. 

enfuing  year  ;  while  the  haplefs  fair,  who  is  belov- 
ed by  one  of  a  mere  irritable  fyftem  and  lefs  capaci- 
ous ftomach,  according  to  the  fame  cant,  is  damned, 
and  degraded  by  the  bucks  from  being  ranked  among 
the  number  of  beauties.  In  tracing  general  princi- 
ples, one  often  meets  with  many  difcordant  and 
contradictory  facts  ;  it  is  a  general  law  of  nature, 
that  when  the  male  makes  love  to  the  female,  he  en- 
deavours to  put  himfelf  into  the  mod  agreeable  pof- 
tures  and  attitudes,  and  to  gain  her  affection  by 
{hewing,  if  we  may  be  allowed  the  expreflion,  his 
beft  fide,  and  mod  agreeable  accomplishments :  but 
the  infiances  we  have  now  related  are  exceptions  to 
this  general  law  ;  they  tend,  however,  to  eftablifh 
this  truth,  that  the  actions  of  men  are  more  fre- 
quently directed  by  whim  and  caprice,  than  by  any 
fixed  and  permanent  principles. 

Among  the  various  methods  which  we  have  in 
this  inquiry  feen  practifed  by  the  men,  of  introdu- 
cing themfelves  into  the  good  graces  of  the  fair, 
fighting  has  not  been  the  leaft  common  ;  and  feveral 
tolerably  good  reafons  may  be  afligned  why  this 
mould  fo  fuccefsfully  accompliih  its  purpofe.  No- 
thing, however,  feems  lefs  natural  than  to  endea- 
vour to  engage  the  female  heart  by  unavailing  cru- 
elty to  one's  own  flelli  :  this  has  in  itfelf  no  merit, 
nor  diftinguiihes  the  man  for  any  thing  but  a  wrong 
head,  and  an  infenfibility  of  nerves.  Whoever, 
therefore,  gets  drunk,  or  commits  any  outrage  upon 
himfelf  for  the  fake  of  his  miftrefs,  fhould  be  fruited 
by  the  women  with  caution,  as  the  fame  caufes 
which  prompted  him  to  this  folly,  may  prompt  him 
to  others  in  which  his  own  perfon  is  lefs  likely  to 
differ. 


173  THE  HISTORY 

Before  we  take  our  leave  of  the  Spaniards,  we 
rnuft  do  them  the  jufiice  to  fay,  that  though  their 
ideas  of  the  ladies,  and  their  manner  of  addreffing 
them,  is  ftrongly  tinctured  with  the  wild  and  the 
romantic,  it  is  at  the  fame  time  directed  by  an  honour 
and  fidelity  fcarcely  to  be  equalled  by  any  other  peo- 
ple. In  Italy,  the  manner  of  courtftiip  pretty  nearly 
refembles  that  of  Spain ;  in  one  circumllance,  how- 
ever, this  people  feem  particular;  they  protract  the 
time  of  courtfhip  for  many  months,  and  even  fome- 
times  for  years,  well  knowing,  that  this  period, 
with  all  the  little  ills  attending  it,  is  one  of  the  fweet- 
eft  of  human  life;  while  it  lafls,  the  lady  expects  to 
fee  her  lover  at  leaft  once  a  day. 

To  the  difference  of  the  climate  of  one  country 
from  another,  philofophers  have  generally  attributed 
the  different  difpofition  of  the  inhabitants.  But 
France  and  Spain  are  kingdoms  bordering  on  each 
other,  and  yet  nothing  can  be  more  difiimilar  than 
a  Frenchman  and  a  Spaniard,  efpecially  in  affairs  of 
love.  A  French  lover,  with  the  word  fentiment 
perpetually  in  his  mouth,  feems  by  every  action,  to 
have  excluded  it,  from  his  heart.  He  places  his 
whole  confidence  in  his  exterior  air  and  appearance. 
He  dreffes  for  his  miftrefs,  dances  for  her,  flutters 
conftantly  about  her,  helps  her  to  lay  on  her  rouge, 
and  place  her  patches ;  attends  her  round  the  whole 
circle  of  amufements,  chatters  to  her  perpetually, 
and  by  making  her  acquainted  with  his  own  confe- 
quence  and  qualifications,  every  now  and  then  drops 
a  hint  of  the  honour  he  confers  upon  her;  whatever 
be  his  ftaticn,  every  thing  gaudy  and  glittering 
within  the  fphere  of  it,  is  called  in  to  his  afliftance, 
particularly  fplendid  carriages  and  taudry  liveries; 
but  if  by  the  help  of  all  thefe,  he  cannot  make  ail 
impreffion  on  the  fair  one's  heart,  it  cods  him  nothing 


OF  WOMEN.  179 

at  lad  but  a  few  flirugs  of  his  fhoulders,  and  two  or 
three  filly  exclamations  ;  and,  as  it  is  -impoffible  for 
a  Frenchman  to  live  without  an  amour,  he  immedi- 
ately betakes  himfelf  to  another. 

Among  people  of  fafhion  in  France,  courtfhip 
begins  to  be  totally  annihilated,  and  marriages  made 
by  parents  and  guardians  are  become  fo  common, 
that  a  bride  and  bridegroom  not  unfrequently  meet 
together  for  the  fecond  time  on  the  day  of  their  mar- 
riage. In  a  country  where  complaifance  and  form 
feem  fo  indifpenfable,  it  may  appear  extraordinary, 
that  a  few  weeks  at  leaft  fhould  not  be  allowed  a 
young  couple  to.  gain  the  afFe&ions  of  each  other, 
and  to  enable  them  to  judge  whether  their  tempers 
were  formed  for  their  mutual  happinefs ;  but  this 
delay  is  commonly  thought  unneceffary  by  the  pru- 
dent parents,  whofe  views  extend  no  farther  than 
intereft  and  convenience.  In  many  countries,  to  be 
married  in  this  manner  would  be  reckoned  the  great- 
efl  of  misfortunes ;  in  France,  it  is  little  regarded, 
as  in  the  fafhionable  world  few  people  are  greater 
flrangers  to,  or  more  indifferent  about,  each  other, 
than  hufband  and  wife;  and  any  appearance  of  fond- 
nefs  between  them,  or  their  being  feen  frequently 
together,  would  infallibly  make  them  forfeit  the 
reputation  of  the  ton,  and  be  laughed  at  by  all 
polite  company.  On  this  account,  nothing  is  more 
common  than  to  be  acquainted  with  a  lady,  without 
knowing  her  hufband,  or  viiking  the  hufband,  with- 
out ever  feeing  his  wife. 

An  hiftorian,  who  has  read  how  the  French  have 
been,  time  immemorial,  governed  by  their  women, 
and  a  traveller,  who  has  feen  the  attention  that 
every  one  pays  to  them,  will  be  apt  to  reckon  all  we 
have  now  faid   as  falfehood  and  mifreDrefentation: 


tfe  THE  HISTORY 

but  to  the  firft,  we  would  recommend  to  confider, 
that  the  women,  who  have  commonly  governed 
France,  have  been  the  miftrefTes  of  their  kings  or 
other  great  men,  who,  trained  up  in  every  alluring 
^mode  of  their  profeilion,  have  become  artful  beyond 
conception,  in  infmuating  themfelvesby  all  the  ave- 
nues that  lead  to  the  male  heart ;  the  fecond,  we 
would  wifh  to  confider,  that  this  conftant  attention 
is  more  the  effecl:  of  fafhion  and  cuftom  than  of  fen- 
timent  or  regard;  and  that  even  the  frequent  duels 
which  in  France  are  fought  on  account  of  women, 
are  not  a  proof  of  the  fuperior  love  or  efteem  of  the 
men  for  that  fex,  nor  undertaken  to  defend  their 
virtue  or  reputation ;  they  are  only  a  mode  of  com- 
pliance with  what  is  falfely  called  politenefs,  and  of 
fupporting  what  is  falfely  efleemed  honour. 

Formerly,  while  the  manners  introduced  by  the 
fnirit  of  chivalry  were  not  quite  evaporated  among 
the  French,  before  the  too  great  progrefs  of  polite- 
nefs had  deflroyed  the  virtues  of  honed  fimplicity, 
and  tongue  had  learned  by  rote,  to  make  every  day 
a  thoufand  proteftations  of  friendfhip,  to  which  the 
heart  was  a  ftranger  ;  the  behaviour  of  this  people, 
though  mixed  with  romantic  extravagance,  was 
neverthelefs  replete  with  feeling  and  with  fentiment. 
During  the  regency  of  Anne  of  Auflria,  fighting 
and  religion  were  the  mod"  fuccefsful  ways  by  which 
a  lover  could  recommend  himfelf  to  his  miicrefs;  the 
bombaftic  verfes  of  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucault  fhew 
what  a  lover  then  promifed  with  his  fword  ;*  and 
the  number  of  women  of  rank  who  turned  Carme- 
lites, in  compliance  with  the  fpirit  of  their  gallants 
and  of  the  times,  point  out  what  was  expecled  from 

*  To  merit  her  heart,  and  to  pleafe  her  bright  eyes, 
I  have  fought  againft  kings,  and  dare  fight  againfr.  the  flues. 


OF  WOMEN.  i8i 

devotion;  but  as  politenefs  began  to  puih  forward 
beyond  the  ftandard  of  nature  and  of  utility,  it  difli- 
pated  not  only  all  thefe  romantic  ideas,  but  a!fo  in 
time  thruft  out  fentiment  and  aifection,  and  left  the 
French  in  their  prefent  fituation — the  creatures  of 
art.  The  avidity  however  of  the  other  European 
nations  in  copying  their  manners  and  cuftoms  is  fo 
great,  that  fuch  as  they  now  are,  all  their  neigh- 
bours will  probably  in  lefsthan  a  few  centuries  be. 

As  mankind  advance  in  the  principles  of  fociety., 
as  intereft,  ambition,  and  fome  of  the  other  fordid 
paftions  begin  to  occupy  the  mind,  nature  is  thruft 
out.  Nothing  furely  can  be  more  natural  than  that 
love  fhould  direct  us  in  the  choice  of  a  partner  for 
life,  and  that  the  parties  contracting  in  wedlock, 
mould  enter  into  that  compact  with  the  mutual  ap- 
probation of  each  other.  This  right  of  nature., 
however,  begins  to  be  wrefted  from  her  in  every 
polite  country.  The  poor  are  the  only  clafs  who 
flill  retain  the  liberty  of  acting  from  inclination  and 
from  choice,  while  the  rich,  in  proportion  as  they 
rife  in  opulence  and  rank,  fink  in  the  exertion  of 
the  natural  right0,  of  mankind,  and  mult  facriflce 
their  love  at  the  fhrine  of  intereft  or  ambition. 

Such  now  begins  to  be  the  common  practice  in 
Britain  ;  courtfnip,  at  leaft  that  kind  of  it  which 
proceeds  from  mutual  inclination  and  affection  is, 
among  the  great,  nearly  annihilated,  and  the  matri- 
monial bargain,  not  lefs  fordid  than  that  of  the  Eaft, 
is  made  between  the  relations  of  the  two  families, 
with  all  the  care  and  cunning  that  each  is  mafter  of, 
to  advance  its  own  intereft  by  over-reaching  the 
other.  Were  we  to  deicend  to  the  middling  and 
lower  ranks  of  life,  where  freedom  of  the  mind  ftill 
exifts  ;  were  we  to  defcribe  their  various  modes  of 

vol.  ii.  A  a 


i$2  THE  HISTORY 

addrefling  and  endeavouring  to  render  themfelves 
agreeable  to  the  fair,  we  fhould  only  relate  what  our 
readers  are  already  acquainted  with;  we  fhall  there- 
fore juftobferve,  in  general,  that  fuch  is  the  power 
of  love,  that  it  frequently  prompts  even  an  Englishman 
to  lay  afide  fome  part  of  his  natural  thoughtfulnefs, 
and  appear  more  gay  and  fprightly  in  the  prefence 
of  his  miltrefs ;  that  on  other  occafions,  when  he 
is  doubtful  of  fuccefs,  it  adds  to  his  natural  peevifh- 
nefs  and  taciturnity,  an  air  of  melancholy  and  em- 
barraffment,  which  expofes  him  to  the  laughter  of 
all  his  acquaintance,  and  feldom  or  never  contributes 
any  thing  to  advance  his  fuit.  But  this  laft  is  not 
peculiar  to  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  ;  for,  when 
a  few  Angularities  are  excepted,  which  arife  from 
manners  and  cuftoms,  in  every  other  refpect  the 
courtfhip  of  all  polifhed  people  is  nearly  the  fame, 
confifls  chiefly  in  the  lover's  endeavouring,  by  every 
art,  to  make  his  perfon  and  temper  appear  as  agree- 
able to  his  miftrefs  as  poflible;  to  perfuade  her,  that 
his  circumftances  are  at  lead:  fuch  as  may  enable 
him  to  indulge  her  in  every  thing  becoming  her  fta- 
tion,  and  that  his  inclinations  to  do  fo,  are  not  in 
the  leafl  to  be  doubted.  Thefe  great  points  being 
gained,  the  lover  has  commonly  little  elfe  left  to  do, 
but  to  enter  into  the  poflefTion  of  his  hopes,  unlefs 
where  each  party,  urged  by  feparate  interefts,  pro- 
pofes  unreasonable  conditions  of  fettlement,  which 
frequently  break  off  a  match  where  every  other  ar- 
ticle has  been  agreed  on. 

In  the  courfe  of  this  enquiry  we  have  feen,  that 
of  all  the  methods  pra&ifed  by  the  men  to  infinuate 
themfelves  into  the  affe&ions  of  the  fair,  none  have 
been  more  common  than  fighting.  In  ancient  times, 
heroes  encountered  one  another  to  render  themfelves 
acceptable  to  the  ladies  they  adored.      Saxo-Gram- 


OF  WOMEN.  183 

maticus  gives  an  account  of  many  duels  that  were 
fought  between  private  perfons  to  determine  which 
of  them  mould  be  the  fuccefsful  lover,  a  pra&ice 
common  among  the  Scandinavians  before  they  be- 
came Chriftians :  princes  then  led  their  armies  into 
the  field,  to  fight  with  each  other  on  the  fame  ac- 
count; and  fo  rude  were  the  manners,  that  a  king 
when  he  fell  in  love,  inftead  of  endeavouring  to  gain 
the  object  by  gentle  and  pacific  methods,  frequently 
fent  to  demand  her  by  threatening  fire  and  fword  on 
a  refufal.  The  Spaniards  fight  the  mod  ferocious 
bulls  to  promote  their  love;  and  a  few  centuries  ago, 
the  cavaliers  of  that  and  many  other  nations  com- 
menced knights-errant,  and  rode  about  the  country 
fighting  every  thing  that  oppofed  them,  for  the  ho- 
nour of  their  miftreffes.  We  have  already  feen, 
that  in  fome  countries,  the  faireft  and  moft  noble  vir- 
gins were  allotted  as  a  reward  to  the  greateft  virtue, 
that  in  others  they  were  bafely  facrificed  to  the 
wretch  who  was  able  to  give  the  higheft  price  for 
them.  But  among  the  ancient  Saxons,  at  Magde- 
burgh,  they  had  an  inftitution  ftill  more  fmgular,  the 
greateft  beauties  were,  at  dated  times,  with  a  fum 
of  money  as  the  portion  of  each,  depofited  in  the 
hands  of  the  magiftrates,  to  be  publicly  fought  for, 
and  fell  to  the  lot  of  thofe  who  were  moft  famous  at 
tilting. 

That  the  foftand  companionate  temper  of  women, 
naturally  averfe  to  fcenes  of  horror  and  blood,  mould 
be  the  moft  eafily  gained  by  him  who  has  moft  diftin- 
guifhed  himfelf  in  fcenes  of  that  nature ;  appears  at 
firft  fight  an  inexplicable  paradox,  but  on  a  nearer 
infpe&ion,  the  difficulty  vanifhes,  when  we  confider, 
that  in  rude  and  barbarous  times,  the  weaknefs  of 
the  fex  made  their  property,  and  their  beauty  made 


iS4  THE  HISTORY 

their  perfons,  a  prey  to  every  invader;  and  that  it 
was  only  by  flickering;  themfelves  in  the  arms  of  the 
hero,  that  they  could  attain  to  any  fafety,  or  to  any 
importance.  Hence  the  hero  naturally  became  the 
object:  of  their  ambition,  and  their  gratitude  for  the 
protection  of  his  power,  obliterated  the  idea  of  his 
crimes,  magnified  all  his  virtues,  and  held  him  up 
as  an  object  of  love.  But  befidcs,  in  the  times  of 
general  rapine  and  devaluation,  it  was  only  valour 
and  ftrength  that  could  defend  a  man's  property 
from  being  lawlefsly  carried  away,  and  his  family 
ruined  for  want  of  fubfiftence;  and  it  was  only  by 
valour  and  martial  atchievements  that  ambition  could 
be  gratified  by  rifing  to  grandeur  and  to  power. 
When  we  furvey  all  thefe  reafons,  our  furprife  that 
fo  many  warriors  in  former  times  fought  themfelves 
into  the  arms  of  their  miftreffes,  will  be  much 
abated. 

We  have  feen  in  the  courfe  of  this  work,  that  wo- 
men have  been  by  authority  expofed  publicly  to  fale, 
we  have  feen  that  they  have,  by  order  of  the  magif- 
trates,  been  publicly  fought  for,  and  that,  in  the 
extenfive  regions  of  the  Eaft,  which  compofe  almoff. 
half  the  globe,  they  are  bought  by  a  huiband  as  his 
ox  or  his  afs,  and  in  many  relpects  treated  by  him 
worfe  than  thefe  animals.  Such  a  treatment  of  the 
objects  which  nature  has  taught  us  to  love,  and  po- 
litenefs  to  refpeel:,  excites  our  aftonimment  and  in- 
dignation, and  we  exult  in  the  happier  (late  of  our 
own  country,  when  we  confider  it  as  not  degraded 
by  any  fuch  inflances  of  defpotic  power,  exercifed 
over  a  fex  which  nature  meant  us  to  cherifh  and  de- 
fend ;  but  our  exultation  on  this  head  is  not  perhaps 
fo  well  founded,  as  we  imagine;  the  matrimonial 
bargains  every  day  concluded  by  all  the  cunning  of 


OF  WOMEN.  185 

relations,  and  chicanery  of  lawyers,  are  a  proof  that 
we  not  only  fell  the  fair  fex,  but  difpofe  even  of  our- 
felves  for  the  fake  of  their  fortunes.  Such  a  fpirit 
of  venality  in  either  fex,  is  a  ftrong  fymptom  of  the 
approaching  ruin  of  the  people  among  whom  it  is 
found.  Let  us  remember  that  wherever  the  women 
are  the  flaves  of  the  men,  the  men  themfelves  are  the 
Haves  of  a  defpot,  and  that  wherever  the  men  have 
become  the  flaves  of  women,  luxury  and  effeminacy 
have  brought  them  to  ruin. 


THE  HISTORY 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


Of  Matrimony. 


S 


OME  regulation  of  the  commerce  be- 
tween the  fexes,  or  the  joining  of  males  and  females 
together  by  mutual  ties  and  obligations,  in  order 
to  preferve  the  peace  of  fociety,  and  encourage  po- 
pulation, feems  either  to  have  been  an  innate  prin- 
ciple in  the  human  mind,  or  to  have  arifen  early 
from  neceffityj  as  we  find  it,  in  one  fhape  or  ano- 
ther, exifting  all  over  the  habitable  world. 

Antiquarians,  who  have  folicitoufly  endeavoured 
to  trace  the  manners  and  cuftoms  of  pafl  ages ;  and 
voyagers  and  travellers,  who  have  depicted  thofe  of 
the  prefent,  have  indifcriminately  given  the  name 
of  marriage  to  every  legal  or  cuftomary  junction  of 
the  fexes,  which  they  met  with  in  the  countries, 
whofe  records  they  have  fearched  or  which  they 
have  vifited  in  perfon  ;  and  European  readers,  be- 
ing accuftomed  only  to  one  kind  of  marriage,  have 
generally  annexed  the  fame  idea,  which  the  word 
conveys  in  their  own  country,  to  the  marriages 
of  the  people  of  all  other  nations.  Marriage,  how- 
ever, is  fo  far  from  having  been  an  inftitution,  fixed 
by  permanent  and  unalterable  laws,  that  it  has  been 
continually  varying  in  every  period,  and  in  every 
country ;  and  its  prefent  indiffoluble  nature  among 
us,  hardly  bears  the  leaft  refemblance  to  what  it 
was  among  many  of  the  ancients,  or  to  what  it  is 
at  prefent  in  feveral  parts  of  the  world. 


OF  WOMEN.  187 

It  has  long  been  the  opinion  of  the  learned,  and 
many  of  the  moil  refpe&able  authors  are  quoted  to 
prove  it,  that  feveral  nations,  during  their  moil  rude 
and  barbarous  ftate,  had  not  attained  to  any  idea 
of  matrimony,  nor  had  any  regulation  of  the  com- 
merce between  the  fexes ;  if  this  is  a  faft,  which, 
notwithftanding  what  has  been  alleged  to  the  con- 
trary, by  a  learned  author  of  the  prefent  age,  we 
have  little  reafon  to  doubt,  it  is  intimately  connected 
with  another  ;  which  is,  that  the  dawnings  of  civi- 
lization no  fooner  began  to  appear,  than  thefe  v~ry 
people  difcovered  the  neceffity  of  fuch  a  regulation, 
and  carried  it  into  execution,  upon  the  belt  plans 
which  their  limited  capacities  were  capable  of  invent- 
ing ;  and  we  fcruple  not  to  affirm,  that,  without 
it,  there  could  be  no  fafety  for  the  individual ;  the 
natural  progrefs  of  multiplication  mud  be  retarded, 
and  no  people  could  ever  arrive  at  any  perfection  in 
government  or  civilization. 

Prefervation  of  the  individual,  and  propagation 
of  the  fpecies,  as  they  are  two  of  the  great  ends  of 
our  exiftence,  are  fo  intimately  connected  with  our 
nature,  that  in  a  very  early  period  of  the  world,  it 
muft  have  been  difcovered,  that  prefervation  could 
not  properly  be  attained,  unlefs  individuals  appro- 
priated to  themfelves  the  produce  of  their  hunting, 
and  certain  parcels  of  ground,  from  whence  the 
means  of  that  prefervation  might  be  derived  ;  and  if 
men  could  not  draw  their  fubfiftence  fo  conveniently 
from  the  ground,  while  it  was  in  common,  they 
muil,  by  the  fame  reafoning  have  difcovered,  that 
propagation  could  not  be  fo  properly  carried  on,  im- 
lefs  individuals  alio  of  the  two  fexes  were  appropria- 
ted to  each  other  by  fome  tie  or  obligation,  which 
ihould  hinder  them  from  beino-  confidered  as  com- 
moa  to  the  whole  fpecies ;  but  of  what  kind  thefe 


1 88  THE  HISTORY 

tie3  and  obligations  were,  or  how  entered  into,  we 
can  now  only  conjecture ;  from  the  complexion  of 
the  times,  however,  we  may  fuppofe,  that  they 
were  fimple,  and  not  entered  into  with  any  remark- 
able pomp  or  ceremony.  This  we  the  more  readily 
believe,  when  we  coniider,  that  in  the  Mofaic  hiltory 
of  the  creation,  our  original  mother  is  introduced  as 
the  wife  of  Adam,  without  taking  notice  of  any 
ceremony  performed  to  make  her  fuch  :  and  that 
there  was  none,  appears  plain  from  the  circumftan- 
ces  of  her  cafe.  Every  marriage  ceremony  is  only  a 
mutual  agreement  of  the  contracting  parties,  to  be 
faithful  to  each  other,  and  the  calling  in  of  fomc 
perfons  to  confirm,  or  to  witnefs  this  agreement. — 
But  while  only  one  man,  and  one  woman  exifted, 
they  had  no  third  perfon  to  witnefs  their  engagement, 
nor  could  they  poilibly  prove  unfaithful  to  each 
other ;  confequently  could  have  no  ufe  of  any  mutual 
engagement  to  fidelity  ;  unlefs  we  can  fuppofe,  that 
when  their  own  pofterity  became  of  age,  fuch  en- 
gagement mould  become  neceflary  on  their  account; 
but  here,  if  we  miftake  not,  nature  has  interpofed 
her  authority,  by  raifing  a  horror  at  all  inceiluous 
commerce. 

In  the  primitive  ages  of  the  world,  every  thing 
was  done  in  the  moil  plain  and  fimple  manner ;  a 
man  fet  up  a  Hone,  or  erected  a  pillar,  to  mark  the 
fpot  of  ground  he  had  appropriated  to  his  own  ufe  ; 
and  he  took  unto  himielf  a  wife  ;  that  is,  carried 
her  home  to  his  houfe,  and  perhaps  made  her  pro- 
mife  to  adhere  to  him  only,  and  to  affift  him  in  bring- 
ing up  the  children  they  might  have  together; 
which  feems  to  be  the  only  mode  in  which  marriages 
were  originally  contracted  ;  at  lead  it  was  the  mode 
during  the  patriarchal  ages.  Lamech,  one  of  the 
fons  of  Adam,  took  unto  himfelf  two  wives.  Ab'ra- 


OF  WOMEN.  1S9 

ham  took  unto  himfelf  a  wife  ;  the  other  patriarchs 
and  people  followed  the  example ;  and,  for  many 
ages,  the  Ifraelitifh  women,  and  perhaps  thofe  of 
other  nations,  were  appropriated  to  their  huibands 
in  this  fimple  manner. 

But  befides  thefe  marriages,  by  fimple  appropri- 
ation, there  appear  to  have  been  others  of  a  nature 
ftill  more  fimple.  Accidental  circumftances  fbme- 
times  brought  a  man  and  a  woman  together ;  and 
when  any  children  were  the  produce  of  their  cor- 
refpondence,  natural  affection  excited  them  to  re- 
main together,  and  unite  their  endeavours  for  the 
prefervation  and  maintenance  of  their  ofFspring.  A 
ftron^  oroof,  that  fuch  marriages  exifted  in  ancient 
times,  is,  that  they  were  much  in  ufe  among  the 
Romans,  and  are  to  be  found  at  this  day  among 
fome  uncultivated  people.  The  mod  ancient  kind 
of  marriage  among  the  Romans,  was  that  in  which 
a  man  and  woman  had  come  together  without  any 
previous  bargain  ;  and  having  lived  together  for 
fome  time,  became  at  lafl  unwilling  to  part,  as  they 
found  themfelves  infenfibly  become  neeeffary  to  eacli 
other :  and,  among  the  Kalmuc  Tartars,  a  young 
couple  agreeing  between  themfelves,  retire  for  one 
year  as  hufband  and  wife  ;  if,  in  that  time,  the  wo- 
man brings  forth  a  child,  they  remain  together  ;  if 
not,  they  either  make  trial  of  another  year,  or  agree 
to  part.  In  the  ifland  of  Otaheite,  the  inhabitant?; 
purfue  incontinent  gratifications,  wherever  inclina- 
tion leads  them  ;  but  when  a  woman  becomes  preg- 
nant, the  father  of  her  child  thereby  becomes  her 
hufband. 

Before  the  laws  of  Mofes  were  given  to  the  Ifrae!- 
ites,  as  the  rule  of  their  conduct  and  manners,  it  is 
ailerted  by  the  Jewifh  rabbies,  that  a  woman,  who 

vol.  it.  B  b 


i9o  THE  HISTORY 

was  neither  betrothed  nor  married,  might  beftow 
her  favours  either  gratis,  or  for  reward,  on  any  one 
me  pleafed,  without  incurring  the  leaft  fcandal,  or 
confining  herfelf  entirely  to  him,  though  me  lived 
with  him  as  his  wife ;  but  the  aflertions  of  thefe 
people  are  far  from  deferving  the  greater!:  degree  of 
credit ;  for  though  it  feems  evident,  from  the  facred 
records,  that  little  or  no  ceremony  was  ufed  in  tak- 
ing a  wife  previous  to  the  patriarchal  ages,  they  have 
particularly  defcribed  the  ceremonies  then  made  ufe 
of  on  that  occafion,  which  we  {hall  take  notice  of 
afterwards. 

As  the  number  of  the  human  race  increafed,  and 
the  number  of  incitements  to  conjugal  infidelity  were, 
confequently,  increafed  alfo,  the  fimple  modes  of  ap- 
propriating a  woman,  by  carrying  her  home,  or  by 
having  lived  with  her  for  fome  time,  were,  perhaps, 
found  infufficient,  either  to  check  her  own  inclina- 
tion to  infidelity,  or  fecure  her  from  the  attacks  of  the 
licentious;  hence  methods  of  a  more  public  and 
folemn  nature  were  fallen  upon,  and  the  marriage 
ceremony  probably  converted  into  a  covenant,  with 
fimilar  ceremonies  to  the  covenants  that  were  made 
at  the  efrablifhing  of  peace,  or  fecuring  of  property. 
Many  and  various  were  the  contrivances  made  ufe  of 
to  eftablifh  and  perpetuate  the  memory  of  thofe  cove- 
nants: Abraham  prefented  Abimelech,  king  of  the 
Phiiiftines,  with  fheep  and  oxen;  which  he  defired 
him,  before  witnefTes,  to  accept  of  as  a  token,  that 
he  fhould  have  the  property  of  a  well  which  he  had 
digged.  The  Phoenicians  fet  up  a  ftone,  or  a  pillar, 
or  raifed  a  heap  of  ftones,  as  a  memorial  of  any  pub- 
lic agreement;  a  pK.5Uce  which  was  followed  by  ma- 
ny other  nations.  The  Scythians,  in  their  alliances 
and  ceremonies,  poured  wine  into  an  earthen  vefiei; 
and  having  mixed  it  with  the  blood  of  the  contract- 


OF  WOMEN. 


191 


ing  parties,  they  dipped  a  fcymiter,  fome  arrows,  a 
bill,  and  a  javelin  into  the  veffel;  and  after  many 
imprecations  on  the  party  who  fhould  break  the 
agreement,  they  themfelves  firft  drank  of  the  mix- 
ture, and  the  reft  of  the  company  as  witnefles  fol- 
lowed their  example.  The  ancient  Arabians  took  an 
oath  by  cutting  the  hands  of  the  contracting  parties 
with  a  (harp  (tone,  then  pulling  a  tuft  from  the  gar- 
ment of  each,  dipped  them  in  the  blood  which  flow- 
ed from  the  wounds,  and  fprinkled  the  blood  upon 
feven  (tones  fet  up  between  them,  invoking  in  the 
mean  time  Bacchus  and  Urania.  The  ancient  Medes 
and  Lycians,  in  making  public  agreements,  wounded 
themfelves  in  the  arm,  and  the  parties  mutually  fuck- 
ed the  blood  of  each  other.  The  Nafamones,  in 
pledging  their  faith  to  each  other,  mutually  prefent- 
ed  a  cup  of  liquor,  and  if  they  had  none,  they  took 
up  duft  and  put  it  in  their  mouths.  The  Carians  and 
lonians,  in  the  army  of  Pfamenitus,  when  they 
fought  againft  Phanes,  flew  the  ions  of  the  latter, 
and  receiving  their  blood  into  a  bowl,  and  mixing  it 
with  wine  and  water,  drank  it  as  a  pledge  of  their 
fteady  adherence  to  each  other.  The  other  Greeks, 
and  the  Romans,  in  their  public  contracts  joined 
their  hands  together,  and  fwore  by  their  gods,  by  the 
tombs  of  their  anceftors,  or  by  any  other  object  of 
awe  and  reverence. 

To  thefe  ancient  methods  of  covenanting  we  fliall 
add  a  fimilar  one  practiied  at  this  time  at  Madagas- 
car. They  put  into  a  large  veffel  filled  with  brandy, 
fome  gold,  iilver,  gun  flint  in  powder,  and,  if  pof- 
fible,  fome  of  the  duft  of  the  tombs  of  their  anceftors, 
to  all  which  they  add,  blood  from  the  arms  of  the 
contracting  parties ;  while  this  mixture  is  preparing, 
their  weapons  are  laid  on  the  ground  in  form  of  a 
crofs,  foon  after,    both  parties  take  them   up,    and 


i92  THE  HISTORY 

"with  the  points  of  them  in  the  veflel  conftantly  keep 
ftirring  its  contents  till  the  agreement  is  concluded, 
when  the  contracting  parties,  and  all  who  are  pre- 
fent,  drink  till  the  cup  is  emptied;  after  which,  they 
embrace  each  other  and  retire.  Such  were  the  cere- 
monies attending  covenants  and  alliances  in  the  pri- 
mitive ages;  and  as  marriage  was  an  alliance  not 
only  between  the  two  parties,  but  their  families  and 
relations,  it  is  probable  that  fome  of  thefe  ceremo- 
nies were  made  ufe  of  to  ratify  and  confirm  it. 


But  though  matrimonial  agreements  were  not  only 
made  public,  but  folemnly  confirmed  by  fome  of  the 
above  ceremonies;  fuch  is  the  frailty  of  human  na- 
ture, that  even  thefe  were  found  infufficient  to  fecure 
female  fidelity;  and  hence,  perhaps,  arofe  the  cuf- 
tom  of  purchafmg  a  wife  from  her  relations  for  afti- 
pulated  price,  and  a  few  prefents  made  to  the  bride 
herfelf ;  a  cuftom  alfo  of  great  antiquity,  for  we  find 
that  Jacob  ferved  feven  years  for  Rachel,  and  Sec- 
hem  told  the  brethren  of  Dinah  that  he  would  give 
whatever  dowry  they  mould  aik  for  their  lifter. — 
This  method  of  marrying,  as  it  augmented  the  pow- 
er of  a  hufband  over  his  wife,  gave  him  greater  iecu- 
rity  for  her  good  behaviour;  for  by  the  purchafe  fhe 
became  his  Have,  and  on  the  leaft  fufpicion  he  could 
confine  her,  or  turn  her  away  at  pleafure,  upon  proof 
of  her  guilt. 

But  whatever  were  the  ceremonies  of  marriage  in 
the  primitive  ages,  it  appears  plain  that  the  commerce 
between  tup  fexes  began  early  to  be  regulated,  as  all 
the  molt  ancienttraditions  agree  in  afcribing  that  regu- 
lation to  their  tirft  fovereigns  and  law-giver.  Menes, 
who  is  faid  to  have  been  the  firft  king  of  Egypt,  is  alfo 
laid  to  Lave  been  the  firft  that  introduced  matrimony 


OF  WOMEN.  193 

and  fixed  the  laws  concerning  it.  The  Greeks  give 
the  honour  of  this  indention  to  Cecrops;  the  Chi- 
nefe  to  Fo  Hi,  their  firft  fovereign;  the  Peruvians 
to  Manco-capac,  and  the  Jews  to  God  Almighty 
himfelf ;  nor  does  it  only  feem  that  matrimony  was 
early  introduced,  but  that  its  firft  introdu&ion  among 
moil  nations,  was  that  of  one  woman  only  being  dei- 
tined  to  one  men,  as  the  fables  of  antiquity  when 
traced  as  far  back  as  pofiible  feem  to  hint';  Jupiter 
had  only  his  Juno;  Pluto  his  Proferpine;  Ofiris  his 
Ills,  and  the  flolen  amours  of  the  gods  and  heroes  of 
antiquity,  and  the  conduct  of  their  wives  upon  difco- 
vering  them,  feem  all  plainly  to  evince  that  then- 
legal  right  of  commerce  with  the  fex  extended  onl) 
to  one  woman.  The  cafe,  however,  fcems  to  have 
been  otherwife  among  the  Jews,  for  as  early  as  the 
days  of  Adam,  Lamech,  once  of  his  fons,  introdu- 
ced the  practice  of  marrying  a  plurality  of  wives;  a 
practice  which  was  imitated  by  the  neighbouring 
nations,  till  in  time  it  became  almofl  univerfal. 

From  the  earliefl  ages  of  antiquity  men  were  accuf- 
tomed  to  feaft  and  rejoice  together  on  memorable 
events,  and  on  the  acquifitionof  any  thing  they  rec- 
koned valuable :  fetting  alide  the  value  (lamped  on  a 
woman  by  love,  which  we  have  reafon  to  believe 
had  not,  in  the  times  we  are  (peaking  of,  arifcn  to 
any  great  degree  of  refinement,  fhe  was  a  valuable 
acquilition,  as  {he  flood  in  the  quality  of  a  fervant  as 
well  as  a  wife;  in  which  lafl  quality  {lie  gave  her  huf- 
band  alfo  a  profpecl:  of  raifmg  up  children,  to  perpe- 
tuate his  name,  and  affifl  him  in  old  age,  circumflan- 
ces  greatly  valued  in  the  primitive  ages:  but  befides 
thefe,  a  wife  was  valuable  on  another  account; 
while  lociety  was  in  its  infancy,  almofl  every  family 
fupported  feuds  and  animofities  againfl,  and  was  at 
war  with,  its  neighbours,  about  the  diftributicn  and 


194  THE  HISTORY 

defence  of  property,  and  it  was  only  by  the  alliance 
of  feveral  families  together,  that  they  could  fome- 
times  be  able  to  fupport  themfelves  againft  their  more 
powerful  rivals ;  fuch  alliances,  and  fach  additional 
ftrength  to  families,  came  generally  by  marrying, 
and  on  all  thefe  accounts,  marriage  was  confidered 
as  an  important  tranfaction,  and  feafts  were  early 
inftituted  at  its  celebration ;  which  feafts,  we  have 
reafon  to  believe,  were  frequently  the  whole  of  the 
ceremony  ;  ferved  to  make  the  contract:  public,  and 
alfo  in  place  of  thole  writings  which  in  our  times  af- 
certain  the  right  and  privileges  of  the  parties.  La- 
ban  gathered  his  friends  together  and  made  a  marri- 
age-feail,  when  he  deceived  Jacob  by  giving  him 
Leah  inftead  of  Rachel ;  but  as  this  feaft  is  not  men- 
tioned as  any  thing  new  or  uncommon,  we  have  rea- 
fon to  fuppofe  they  had  been  ufed  long  before  that 
time.  Sampfon,  when  he  married  Delilah,  made  a 
feaft  which  lafted  feven  days,  for  fo  ufed  the  young 
men  to  do.  The  Babylonians  carried  marriage- 
feafts  to  fuch  an  extravagant  length,  that  many  peo- 
ple having  ruined  their  families  by  the  expence,  a 
mmptuary  law  was  made  to  reflrain  them.  Among 
the  ancient  Scandinavians,  almoft  every  public  trans- 
action was  attended  with  a  feaft,  and  that  at  the 
celebration  of  a  marriage  was  a  fcene  of  revelry  and 
drunkennefs,  which  was  frequently  productive  of 
the  molt  fatal  effects.  The  Phrygians  too  had  fump- 
tuous  entertainments  on  thefe  occafions ;  entertain- 
ments alfo  of  a  like  nature  were  common  among  the 
Jews  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour  ;  and  they  are  at 
this  day  given  almoft  by  all  nations,  but  more  par- 
ticularly bythofe  among  whom  the  excefs  of  polite- 
nefs  has  not  banifhed  merriment  and  ruftic  hofpi- 
tality. 


OF  WOMEN.  195 

In  an  early  period  of  the  world,  the  intereft,  or 
fometimes  the  inclination,  of  parents,  when  they, 
had  lived  in  a  friendly  manner  with,  and  contracted 
a  regard  for,  their  neighbours,  naturally  prompted 
them  to  wifh,  that  a  marriage  between  their  children 
might  take  place  to  itrengthen  the  alliance  of  the 
families  ;  and  as  this  wifh  was  frequently  formed 
before  the  parties  were  of  an  age  proper  for  fuch  a 
junction,  they  fell  upon  a  method  of  fecuring  them 
to  each  other;  by  what  is  called  in  the  lacred  'wri- 
tings, betrothing,  which  was  agreeing  on  a  price  to 
be  paid  for  the  bride,  the  time  when  it  fhould  be 
paid,  and  when  (lie  fhould  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  her  hufband.  There  were,  according  to 
the  Talmudifts,  three  ways  of  betrothing  :  the  firft, 
by  a  written  contract ;  the  fecond,  by  a  verbal  agree- 
ment, accompanied  with  a  piece  of  money;  and  the 
third,  by  the  parties  coming  together  and  living  as 
hufband  and  wife ;  which  laft  they  could  not  pro- 
perly call  betrothing,  it  was  marriage  itfelf.  The 
written  contract:  was  in  the  following  words  : 

"  On  fuch  a  day,  month,  and  year,  A.  the  fon 
of  B.  has  faid  to  D.  the  daughter  of  E.  be  thou 
my  fpoufe  according  to  the  law  of  Mofes  and  of  the 
Ifraelites,  and  I  will  give  thee  as  a  dowry  for  thy 
virginity  the  fum  of  two  hundred  Suzims,  as  it  is 
ordered  by  our  law  ;  and  the  faid  D.  hath  promifed 
to  be  his  fpoufe  upon  the  conditions  aforefaid,  which 
the  faid  A.  doth  hereby  bind  himfelf,  and  all  that 
he  hath,  to  the  very  cloak  upon  his  back  ;  engages 
himfelf  to  love,  honour,  feed,  clothe,  and  protect 
her,  and  to  perform  all  that  is  generally  implied  in 
favour' of  the  Ifraelitilh  wives," 


i96  THE  HISTORY 

The  verbal  agreement  was  made  in  the  pretence 
of  a  fufficient  number  of  witneffes,  by  the  man,  fay- 
ing  to  the  woman,  Take  this  money  as  a  pledge, 
that  at  fuch  a  time,  I  will  take  thee  to  be  my  wife. 
A  woman  who  was  by  any  of  thefe  methods  betroth- 
ed or  bargained  for,  was  almoft  in  every  refpeft  by 
the  law  confidered  as  already  married,  bound  nearly 
by  the  fame  ties  and  obligations,  and  enjoyed  nearly 
the  fame  privileges  and  immunities,  as  me  who  ac- 
tually lived  and  cohabited  with  her  huiband. 


OF  WOMEN.  i97 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 


The  fame  Subjecl  continued. 


.ITHERTO  our  obfervations  on  the 
origin  and  progrefs  of  the  matrimonial  compact  have, 
for  the  molt  part,  been  either  general,  or  confined 
to  periods  enveloped  in  the  darknefs  of  the  remoteft 
antiquity  :  we  mall  now  endeavour  to  trace  the  cere- 
monies and  ufages  of  that  compact  in  a  more  parti- 
cular manner,  as  well  as  through  periods  which  be- 
gin to  be  better  known,  and  where,  being  furnifhed 
with  more  hiflorical  facts,  we  fhall  have  the  lefs  oc- 
cailon  to  fupply  their  place  by  probability  and  con- 
jecture. 

Though,  from  what  we  have  already  obferved, 
it  is  highly  premmable,  that  the  Ifraelites  had  no 
marriage-ceremony  before  the  legiilation  of  Mofes, 
except  fending  a  few  prelents,  or  feafting  together, 
to  make  the  affair  public  ;  yet  the  Rabbles,  ever 
fertile  in  imagination,  have  told  us  the  contrary: 

"  Marriages,  fay  they,  were  even  then  agreed 
upon  by  the  parents  and  relations  of  both  fides ; 
which  being  done,  the  bridegroom  was  introduced  to 
his  bride,  prefents  were  mutually  exchanged,  the 
contract  ligned  before  witnefTes;  and  the  bride,  hav- 
ing remained  feme  time  with  her  relations,  was  fent 
away  to  the  habitation  of  her  hufband  in  the  night  ; 
with  finging,  dancing,  and  the  found  of  mufical 
inihumems." 

vol.  it.  C  r 


r98  THE  HISTORY 

This  ceremonial  bears  fo  ftrong  a  refemblance  to 
that  which  the  fame  Rabbies  tell  us  was  inflituted  by 
Mofes,  that  it  is  plain  they  have  either  taken  it 
from  that,  or  Mofes,  if  he  really  did  institute  any 
ceremony,  mud  have  taken  his  pattern  from  the 
ancient  ufages  and  cufloms  of  his  country  ;  as  we  may 
fee  by  the  following  ceremonial,  which  they  have 
afcribed  to  that  legiflator.  When  the  day  appointed 
for  celebrating  the  wedding  was  come,  which  was 
generally  Friday  for  a  maid,  and  Thurfday  for  a 
widow,  the  contract  of  marriage  was  read  in  the 
prefence  of,  and  figned  by  at  leaft  ten  witneiles, 
who  were  free  and  of  age.  The  bride  who  had 
taken  care  to  bathe  herfelf  the  night  before,  appear- 
ed in  all  her  fplendour,  but  veiled,  in  imitation  of 
Rebecca,  who  veiled  herfelf  when  {lie  came  in  fight 
of  Ifaac;  fhe  was  then  given  to  the  bridegroom  by 
her  parents,  in  words  to  this  purpole  :  "  Take  her, 
according  to  the  law  of  Mofes ;"  and  he  received 
her,  by  faying,  "  I  take  her  according  to  that  law." 
Some  blellings  were  then  pronounced  upon  the 
young  couple,  both  by  the  parents  and  the  reft  of 
the  company.*  The  virgins  fung  a  marrhge-fong  ; 
the  company  then  partook  of  a  repaft,  the  mofl  mag- 
nificent that  the  parties  could  afford?  after  which 
the  parties  began  a  dance,  the  men  round  the  bride- 
groom, the  women  round  the  bride;  and  this  dance 
they  pretended,    was   of  divine  inftitution,  and  an 

*  The  blefftngs  or  prayer?  generally  ran  in  this  ftyle  :  "  Blefs- 
ed  art  thou,  O  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  haft  created  man 
in  thine  own  likenefs,  and  haft  appointed  woman  to  be  his  part- 
ner and  companion  !  BlefTed  art  thou,  who  filled  Sion  with  joy 
for  the  multitude  of  her  children  !  BlefTed  art  thou,  who  fendeft 
gladnefs  to  the  bridegroom  and  his  bride!  who  hall  ordained  for 
them  love,  joy,  tender nefs,  peace,  and  mutual  affection. 
plealed  to  blefs,  not  oniy  this  couple,  but  Judah  and  Jerufalem 
with  longs  of  joy,  and  praife  for  the  joy  thou  givelt  them, 
by  the  multitude  of  their  fons  and  of  their  daughters." 


OF  WOMEN.  i99 

efTential  part  of  the  ceremony.  The  bride  was  then 
carried  to  the  nuptial  bed,  and  the  bridegroom  left 
in  the  chamber  with  her;  when  the  company  again 
returned  to  their  feafting  and  rejoicing,  and  the  Rab- 
bies  inform  us,  that  this  feafting,  when  the  bride 
was  a  widow,  laded  only  three  days,  but  feven  if 
fhe  was  a  virgin  ;  a  law,  which  was  fo  obligatory, 
that  if  a  man  married  feveral  wives  in  one  dav,  he 
was  bound  to  allow  a  feaft  of  feven  days  to  each  of 
them,  exactly  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  mar- 
ried. 

In  periods  later  than  thefe  we  are  now  confidering 
the  ceremonies  of  marriage  were,  according  to  the 
Rabbies,  confiderably  changed.  Both  the  man  and 
woman  were  led  to  the  houie  of  marriage  by  their 
neareft  friends,  where  ten  at  leaft  were  to  be  pre- 
fent  ;  there  the  bill  of  dowry  being  publicly  ratified, 
the  man  ipoke  thus  to  the  woman  :  "  Be  thou  a  wife 
to  me,  according  to  the  law  of  Mofes,  and  I  will 
worlhip  and  honour  thee,  according  to  the  word  of 
God,  and  will  feed  and  govern  thee,  according  to 
the  cuftom  of  thofe  who  worfhip,  honour,  and  go- 
vern their  wives  faithfully.  I  give  thee,  for  dowry 
of  thy  virginity,  fifty  fhekels." 

Having  given  this  account  of  the  Mate  of  matri- 
mony among  the  Ifraelites,  let  us  now  turn  to  the 
other  nations  of  antiquity,  which  flourifhed  in  the 
fame  periods  we  have  been  reviewing.  It  has  been 
already  mentioned,  that  the  Egyptians  attributed 
the  introduction  of  matrimony,  and  the  regulation 
of  it  by  laws,  to  Menes,  faid  to  have  been  the  Cham 
of  the  fcripture,  who  was  one  of  the  fans  of  Noah, 
and  their  firft  fovereign.  That  matrimony  was  early 
inilituted  among  a  people  who  took  the  lead  in  almoil 
every  thing  that  tended  to  improve  fociety,  we  have 


200  THE  HISTORY 

little  room  to  doubt :  but  though,  as  will  appear 
afferward,  we  have  fome  account  of  the  feveral  ties 
and  obligations  of  the  married  ftate  among  them,  we 
are  entirely  ignorant  of  the  manner  in  which  their 
marriages  were  folemnized.  In  this  article,  the  hif- 
•tory  of  the  Philiflines,  Canaamtes,  Carthaginians, 
and  many  other  nations,  is  involved  in  the  fame  ob- 
fcurity.  Of  the  Philiflines,  however,  we  may  ob- 
ferve,  that  their  ideas  of  marriage  muff  have  been 
exceedingly  crude  and  indigeiled,  as  the  father-in- 
law  of  Sampfon  gave  away  his  wife  Delilah  to  ano- 
ther, upon  his  being  fome  time  abfent  from  her. 

The  ancient  Affyrians  feem  more  thoroughly  to 
have  fettled  and  digeiled  the  affairs  of  marriage, 
than  any  of  their  contemporaries.  Once  in  every 
year  they  affembled  together  all  the  girls  that  were 
marriageable,  when  the  public  crier  put  them  up  to 
fale,  one  after  another.  For  her  whofe  figure  was 
agreeable,  and  whofe  beauty  was  attracting,  the 
rich  drove  againft  each  other,  who  mould  give  the 
higheft  price  ;  which  price  was  put  into  a  public 
flock,  and  diflributed  in  portions  to  thofe  whom 
nature  had  lefs  liberally  accomplifhed,  and  whom 
nobody  would  accept  without  a  reward.  After  the 
moil  beautiful  were  difpofed  of,  thefe  were  alfo  put 
up  by  the  public  crier,  and  a  certain  fum  of  money 
offered  with  each,  proportioned  to  what  it  was 
thought  me  flood  in  need  of  to  bribe  a  hufband  to 
accept  her.  When  a  man  offered  to  accept  of  any 
of  them,  on  the  terms  upon  which  fhe  was  expofed 
to  fale,  the  crier  proclaimed,  that  fuch  a  man  had 
propofed  to  take  fuch  a  woman,  with  fuch  a  fum  of 
money  along  with  her,  provided  none  could  be  found 
who  would  take  her  with  lefs ;  and  in  this  manner 
the  fale  went  on,  till  fhe  was  at  lafl  allotted  to  him 
who  offered  to  take  her  with  the  fmallefl  portion. — 


OF  WOMEN.  201 

When  this  public  fale  was  over,  the  purchafers  of 
thofe  that  were  beautiful  were  not  allowed  to  take 
them  away,  till  they  had  paid  down  the  price  agreed 
on,  and  given  fufficient  fecurity  that  they  would 
marry  them  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  would  thofe 
who  were  to  have  a  premium  for  accepting  of  fuch 
as  were  lefs  beautiful,  take  a  delivery  of  them,  till 
their  portions  were  previoufly  paid.  It  is  probable, 
that  this  fale  brought  together  too  great  multitudes 
of  people  from  inconvenient  diflances,  to  the  detri- 
ment, perhaps,  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  and 
that  ftrangers  could  not  give  fufFicient  fecur!ty  to 
fulfil  the  bargains  they  had  made  ;  for  a  law  was  af- 
terwards iffued,  prohibiting  the  inhabitants  of  dif- 
ferent diftricls  from  intermarrying  with  each  other, 
and  ordainino,  that  huibands  mould  not  ufe  their 
wives  ill ;  a  vague  kind  of  ordonnance,  which  (hews 
how  imperfectly  legifiation  was  underflood  among 
thofe  people. 

Hiftory  has  not,  fo  far  as  we  know,  given  us  any 
account  of  what  was  meant  farther  by  marrying  the 
woman,  after  having  thus  publicly  bargained  for 
her  :  if  we  may  judge,  however,  from  the  cuftoms 
of  the  times,  and  of  the  neighbouring  nations,  we 
may  fuppofe,  that  their  further  marriage  conilfted 
only  in  taking  home  to  their  houfes  the  wives  they 
had  bought,  and  calling  their  friends  together  to 
feaft  with  them,  and  be  witneffes  of  their  fulfilling 
the  engagement  they  had  entered  into.  If,  between 
the  time  of  the  fale  and  this  public  folemnizaiion, 
the  parties  happened  to  differ,  or  if  they  could  not 
agree  afterwards,  the  man  was  obliged  to  refund  the 
money  he  had  received,  and  they  parted  with  mu- 
tual confent.  This  being  the  cafe  with  thofe  who 
received  money  with  their  wives,  it  has  likewiie  been 
fuppofed,  that  thofe  who  paid  money  for  them,  had 


202  THE  HISTORY 

a  power  of  demanding  it  again,  on  difagreement  and 
feparation  :  but  of  fuch  power  we  have  no  a-  count, 
nor  is  it  probable  that  it  exifted  ;  for  the  money  fo 
paid,  being  put  into  a  public  (lock,  and  diftributed 
to  fuch  a  variety  of  hands,  became  thereby  totally 
irredeemable.  Thefe  hints  concerning  matrimony 
among  the  Affyrians  plainly  prove,  that  the  proper 
regulation  of  it  was  an  object,  of  their  mod  fcrious 
attention  ;  but  another  circumftance  proves  this  in  a 
frill  ftronger  manner.  The  Ally  nans  had  a  court, 
or  tribunal,  whole  only  bufinefs  was  to  difpofe  of 
young  women  in  marriage,  and  to  fee  the  laws  of 
that  union  properly  executed.  What  thefe  law's 
were,  or  how  the  execution  of  them  was  enforced,, 
are  circumfhinces  which  have  not  been  handed  down 
to  us;  but  the  erecting  a  court  folely  for  the  purpofe 
of  taking  cognizance  of  them,  fuggefts  an  idea  that 
they  were  many  and  various. 

We  have  already  feen  the  manner  in  which  the 
ancient  Scythians,  fo  much  famed  for  natural  affec- 
tion and  fidelity,  ratified  their  covenants  with  each 
other,  and  have  reafon  to  fuppofe,  that  marriage 
was  one  of  the  covenants  fo  ratified  :  when  wre  turn 
to  the  other  nations,  in  the  times  under  review,  we 
find  no  account  of  their  marriage-ceremonies  till  we 
come  to  the  Greeks  ;  and  this  lilence  on  the  fubject 
gives  us  reafon  to  fuppofe,  that  in  many  countries 
they  really  had  no  other  than  the  f.mple  mode 
of  carrying  home  a  bride,  and  making  a  feaft  for 
her  reception;  which  we  are  the  more  inclined  to 
believe,  when  we  confider  the  circumllantial  detail 
we  have,  of  many  of  the  public  ceremonies  of  Da- 
rius, of  Cyrus,  and  of  Alexander;  that  we  are  not 
only  told  of  their  being  married,  but  have  alio  an 
account  of  the  time  when,  and  the  perfons  to  whom, 
but  not  the  leaf!  account  of  the  manner  how;  which 


OF  WOMEN.  203 

the  hiftorians  of  the  times  Would  fcareely  have  omit- 
ted, had  their  marriages  been  celebrated  with  pomp 
and  public  ceremony. 

Though  Cecrops,  the  firft  king  of  the  Greeks,  is 
fuppofed  to  have  lived  nearly  about  the  time  of  Mo- 
fes,  and  to  have  inflituted  marriage  among  his  peo- 
ple; yet  during  the  whole  of  the  heroic  ages,  which 
lafted  many  centuries  after  Moles,  they  appear  to 
have  been  fo  rude  and  uncultivated,  that  we  cannot 
fuppofe  they  had  brought  this  inftitution  to  any  per- 
fection, either  in  its  ceremonies  or  its  laws.  Whe- 
ther Cecrops  ordained  that  the  Greeks  lhould  follow 
the  euftoms  of  the  Egyptians  in  marrying,  or  went 
a  Hep  farther,  and  fixed  new  ceremonies  of  his  own 
invention,  we  know  not:  we  are,  however,  infor- 
med, that  at  a  marriage,  even  in  the  heroic  ages, 
there  was  a  meeting  of  relations  and  of  neighbours ; 
who,  in  order  to  recall  to  memory  the  times  of  lim- 
plicity,  when  their  anceftors  lived  almoft  entirely  on 
the  fpontanepus  productions  of  the  earth,  preferred 
the  new-married  couple  with  a  ba/ket  of  acorns  mix- 
ed with  bread;  a  cuflom,  which,  perhaps,  gave 
birth  to  the  nuptial  fcattering  of  nuts  among  the 
Romans,  who  borrowed  almoft  every  ufage  of  the 
Greeks.  At  this  meeting,  the  Greeks,  according 
to  the  hofpitality  of  lincultiv  ited  people,  had  feailings 
and  rejoicings;  as  appears  from  i  Helens  being  invi- 
ted to  the  nuptials  of  Pirithous,  when  he  helped  him 
to  kill  a  great  number  of  Centaurs,  who  in  their  cups 
h  .1  offered  violence  to  the  female  gueftsat  the  v.  d- 
ding;  from  the  ftory  of  Attis,  the  fon  of  Cybele, 
who  was  by  Mi. las  to  have  been  married  to  his 
daughter,  had  not  Cybele,  prevented  it  by  breaking 
into  the  city,    and  ;  a  frenzy  to  fall  upon  all 

thole  who  allured  at  the? ceremony  of  the  nuptials-. 
Some  are  of  opinion,    that   pledges   and  fecurities 


204-  THE  HISTORY 

were,  by  the  inftiiution  of  Cecrops,  mutually  inter- 
changed between  the  parties ;  but  this,  and  almoft 
every  other  circumftance  relative  to  the  mode  of  mar- 
rying in  the  heroic  ages,  is  only  conjecture;  we  mall, 
therefore,  proceed  to  give  fome  account  of  that  mode, 
in  periods  when  the  hiftory  of  the  Greeks,  being 
lefs  involved  in  fable  is  more  di ft i nelly  known. 

As  foon  as  the  confent  of  the  parents  and  relations 
was  obtained,  the  parties  were  fometimes  betrothed, 
in  thefe  words :  "  I  give  you  this  my.  daughter  to 
make  you  the  father  of  legitimate  children."  After 
Which  the  young  couple  plighted  their  faith  to  each 
other  by  a  kifs,  or  joining  together  of  their  right 
hands,  a  cuftom  obferved  by  the  Grecians  in  all  pub- 
lic agreements.  The  Thebans  plighted  their  faith  to 
each  other  at  the  monument  of  Iolaus,  who,  after 
he  had  been  advanced  to  heaven  was  fuppofed  to  take 
care  of  the  affairs  of  love.  The  Athenian  virgins, 
when  marriageble,  prefented  bankets  of  little  curioii- 
ties  to  Diana,  to  obtain  leave  to  depart  from  her 
trains,  fhe  being  efleemed  the  peculiar  patron  of 
maidens;  and  before  her  fhrine  at  Brauron,  an  Athe- 
nian village,  in  order  to  appeafe  her  for  intending 
to  depart  from  the  ftate  of  virginity  in  which  me  fo 
much  delighted.  The  Bceotians  and  Locrians  of 
both  fexes  offered;  before  their  nuptials,  a  facrifice 
to  Euclia,  or  Diana,  to  avert  her  refentment  agamft 
them,  for  changing  from  a  fingle  to  a  married  life. 
Thefe  facrifkes  confifted  in  confecrated  wafers,  cakes, 
and  animals,  which  were  flain  on  her  altars.  Seve- 
ral other  of  the  gods  and  goddefTes  had  facrifkes  of- 
fered at  their  altars  on  this  occafion,  as  Jupiter,  Ju- 
no, Minerva,  and  Venus,  who  was  generally  invo- 
ked with  peculiar  fervency,  as  being  the  goddefs  of 
love.  The  Lacedemonians  had  an  ancient  ftatue  of 
this  goddefs,  to  whom  it  was  incumbent  upon,  all 


OF  WOMEN.  205 

mothers  to  offer  faerifices  on  the  marriage  of  their 
daughters.  The  multiplicity  of  male  and  female 
deities  among  the  Greeks,  who  were  concerned  in 
the  affair  of  love,  made  the  invocations  and  facrifices 
on  this  occafion  a  tedious  affair.  Even  the  Fates 
were  by  no  means  to  be  forgot,  but  the  favour  of 
the  Graces  was  purchafed  by  the  mod  ample  offer- 
ings. 

The  time  appointed  for  thefe  ceremonies  was 
commonly  the  day  before  marriage,  when  the  par- 
ties having  cut  off  fome  of  their  hair,  prefented  it  to 
fuch  deities  as  they  mod  regarded,  or  to  whom  they 
thought  themfelves  under  the  greateffc  obligations. 

Befides  thefe  facrifices  preparatory  to  the  marria- 
ges,, other  victims  were  offered  at  the  folemnization 
of  it ;  anci  on  this  occafion,  as  foon  as  the  victims 
were  flam,  they  were  opened,  the  gall  taken  out, 
and  thrown  behind  the  altar,  to  intimate  that  all 
gall  and  bitternefs  mould  be  thrown  behind  the  par- 
ties, before  they  enter  into  the  married  Hate.  The 
entrails  were  then  carefully  infpected  by  the  footh- 
fayers,  if  they  declared  that  any  thing  unlucky  ap- 
peared in  them,  the  nuptials  were  either  delayed  or 
broke  off;  and  the  fame  thing  took  place  if  any  ill 
omen  happened,  during  the  celebration  of  them,  as 
was  the  cafe  at  the  marriage  of  Clitophon  with  Cal- 
ligone,  where,  an  eagle  having  fnatched  a  piece  of 
the  flefh  of  the  viclim  from  the  altar,  the  whole 
company  dilmiffed  full  of  terror  and  confternation. 
Fortunate  omen 5  gave  great  joy,  and  the  mod  for- 
tunate of  all  others,  was  a  pair  of  turtles  feen  in  the 
air,  as  thofe  birds  were  reckoned  the  trued  emblem 
of  conjugal  love  and  fidelity;  but  if  one  of  them  was 
(ten.  alone,  it  infallibly  denoted  feparation  and  all 
the  ills  attending  an  -unhappy  marriage.  We  cannot 
vol.  n.  £)  d 


2o6  THE  HISTORY 

help  observing  here,  to  what  a  train  of  groundless 
fears  and  apprehennons  fuperftition  fubjects  her  vo- 
taries, and  how  eafily  they  may  be  deceived,  in 
taking  for  the  denunciations  of  heaven,  the  frauds 
and  tricks  of  their  enemies,  as  fometimes  happened 
to  the  Greeks ;  if  what  is  reported  be  true,  that 
fuch  as  were  averfe  to  marriage,  or  wilhed  the  par- 
ties to  be  unhappy,  fometimes  took  a  fingle  turtle 
along  with  them,  and  letting  it  fly,  either  put  an 
e::d.  to  the  ceremony,  or  filled  the  hearts  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  with  terror  and  aitonifhment ;  but 
we  muft  remark  alfo,  that  thofe  who  wifhed  well  to 
the  young  couple,  fometimes  carried  a  pair  of  turtles 
along  with  them,  and  by  their  flight  diffufed  joy  and 
gladnefs  into  all  the  company,  and  particularly  to 
thofe  who  weKe  the  moil  interefled  in  the  fate  of  the 
marriage. 

The  bride  and  bridegroom  were  dreiTed,  and 
adorned  with  garlands  of  herbs  and  flowrers,and  cakes 
made  of  fefame,  a  plant  remarkable  for  its  fruitful- 
nefs,  were  plentifully  distributed  among  the  com- 
pany. The  houfe  of  the  bridegroom  was  likewife 
adorned  with  garlands:  a  peftle  was  tied  to  the  door 
of  it,  a  maid  carried  a  iieve,  and  the  bride  an  ear- 
then veflel  with  barley,  all  of  which  were  emblems 
of  her  future  employment.  She  was  conduced  in 
the  evening  to  the  houfe  of  her  hufband  in  a  chariot, 
feated  between  the  hufband  and  one  of  his  relations; 
fervants  carryinglightedtorch.es  immediately  before, 
and  fingers  and  dancers  preceding  the  whole  caval- 
cade :  and  when  the  bride  alighted  from  the  cha- 
riot, the  axle-tree  of  it  was  burnt,  to  fignify  that 
there  was  no  method  left  for  her  to  return  back. — 
As  foon  as  the  yojing  couple  entered  the  houfe,  figs 
an4  other  fruits  were  thrown  upon  their  head;;,  to 
denote  plenty  ;  and  a  fumptuous  entertaiment  was 


OF  WOMEN.  :c; 

ready  for  them  to  partake  of,  to  which  all  the  rela- 
tions on  both  fides  were  invited  ;  daring  the  feaft, 
the  deities  that  prefided  over  marriage  were  invoked, 
and  honoured  with  mufic  and  dancing.  The  chief 
intention  of  this  feaft,  according  to  the  Greek  au- 
thors, was  to  make  the  marriage  publicity  known, 
and  on  that  account  was  an  eflential  part  of  the 
ceremony. 

The  dancing  ended,  the  married  couple  were 
conveyed  to  their  bed  ;  previous  to  which,  the  bride 
bathed  her  feet  in  water,  always  brought  from  the 
fountain  Cailirhoe,  on  a  fuperftkious  opinion  of 
fome  fecret  virtues  it  contained  ;  this  done,  fhe  was 
lighted  to  bed,  by  a  number  of  torches,  according 
to  her  quality  ;  round  one  of  thefe  torches,  the 
bride's  mother  tied  her  own  hair-lace.  Alltherelations 
of  both  parties  alnited  at  thefe  ceremonies,  and  to  be 
abfent  from  them  was  confidered  as  the  great  eft  mif- 
fortune.  It  was  alio  the  privilege  of  the  mother  to 
light  the  torches,  a  privilege  of  which  the  Grecian 
matrons  were  exceedingly  tenacious.  The  young- 
couple  being  now  left  together,  were,  by  the  laws 
of  Athens,  obliged  to  eat  a  quince,  after  which  the 
bridegroom  proceeded  to  loofe  the  bride's  girdle, 
the  young  men  and  maidens  (landing  at  the  door 
fmging  epithalamia,  the  men  making  a  great  noife 
with  their  feet  and  voices  to  drown  the  cries  of  the 
bride.  This  done,  the  company  retired,  and  re- 
turned in  the  morning,  to  falute  the  new  married 
couple,  to  ling  epithalamia  again  at  the  door  of  their 
bed-chamber. 

Thefe  ceremonies  being  fmimed,  the  bride  pre- 
fented  to  her  hufoand  a  garment,  and  prefents  were 
made  both  to  the  bridegroom  and  bride,  by  their 
relations,  which  confided  in  fuch  kinds  of  houiehold 


208  THE  HISTORY 

furniture  as  was  then  made  ufe  of,  and  were  carri- 
ed in  great  flate  to  their  houfeby  a  company  of  wo- 
men, preceded  by  a  boy  in  white  apparel,  with  a 
lighted  torch  in  his  hand,  and  between  him  and  the 
women,  a  perion  with  a  baiket  of  flowers,  as  cuf- 
tomary  at  the  Grecian  proceilions. 

Such  were  the  moll:  material  ceremonies  at  the 
celebration  of  a  Greek  marriage.  A  variety  of 
others  are  frequently  alluded  to  in  their  authors ; 
but  as  they  would  be  tedious  to  relate,  and  feemed 
to  have  been  lefs  elfential,  we  iliall  pafs  over  them 
in  ulence,  only  remarking,  that  in  fome  of  their 
ilates,  they  invoked  the  crow,  to  put  them  in  mind 
of  the  affection  they  ought  to  bear  to  each  other,  and 
it  was  a  common  proverb  among  them,  when  they 
heard  that  fuch  a  woman  was  married  to  a  man 
whom  they  prefumed  would  not  ufe  her  well,  to 
fay,  She  will  need  to  invoke  the  crow. 

At  Sparta,  marriages  were  conducted  in  a  very 
different  manner.  When  the  preliminaries  were 
fettled  by  a  female  match-maker,  (lie  fhaved  the 
bride,  dreifed  her  in  men's  clothes,  and  left  her 
fitting  upon  a  mattrafs;  the  bridegroom  ftole  pri- 
vately to  her,  and  having  (laid  a  iliort  time,  ilole  as 
privately  away,  a  conduct  which  the  laws  of  that 
republic  obliged  a  married  couple  to  obferve,  in  their 
intercourfe  with  each  other,  through  the  whole  of 
their  lives. 

Having  thus  far  traced  the  rites  of  marriage,  we 
think  it  necelTary  to  obferve,  that  the  detail  we 
have  given  has  not  been  folely  with  a  view  to  exhi- 
bit the  ceremonies  with  which  it  is  in  different  coun- 
tries celebrated,  but  alfo  with  an  intention  to  difco- 
ver,  whether  it  is  of  divine  or  human  inflitution. 


OF  WOMEN.  209 

In  the  courfe  of  our  narration  we  have  feen,  that 
the  Jews  attributed  the  inftitution  of  marriage  to  the 
Almighty  himfelf,  when  he  gave  Adam  a  female  for 
his  companion ;  but  as  the  fcriptures  mention  no 
fuch  inftitution,  we  may  with  equal  reafon  fuppofe, 
that  he  initituted  marriage  among  the  other  animals, 
when  he  created  them  male  and  female.  We  have 
further  feen,  that  the  Rabbies  attributed  the  cere- 
monial to  be  obferved  at  matrimonial  engagements, 
to  Mofes,  who  was  divinely  infpired ;  but  Mofes 
himfelf  mentions  no  fuch  thing,  and  has  only  in  his 
code  of  legiflation  promulgated  a  few  laws  for  the 
better  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  married  people 
towards  each  other  ;  and  as  no  legiflator  iifues  his 
laws  to  regulate  what  is  properly  regulated  already, 
we  may  fuppofe  from  the  laws  which  Mofes  made 
upon  this  occafion,  that,  before  his  time,  marriage 
was  in  fo  imperfect  a  Hate,  that  we  cannot  reafon- 
ably  conceive  it  to  have,  been  the  inftitution  of  an 
all-perfect  Being. 

In  the  profecution  of  our  enquiry  among  the  other 
primitive  nations,  we  have  icarcely  discovered  al- 
moft  any  of  them  even  pretending,  that  marriage  was 
the  inftitution  of  their  gods  ;  but  of  their  firft  legifla- 
tors,  as  Menes  in  Egypt,  and  Cecrops  in  Greece;  nor 
have  we  found,  even  among  the  Jews  themfelves, 
that  either  prophet,  or  prieft,  were  concerned  in  the 
celebration  of  marriage,  though  they  managed  every 
thing  that  was  confidered  as  facred,  or  of  divine 
inftitution:  the  fame  was  the  cafe  among  the  other 
primitive  nations;  they  had  priefts,  to  whom  the  cele- 
bration of  every  holy  rite  was  committed;  but  their 
magiftrates,  and  the  relations  of  the  contracting  par- 
ties, were  the  only  people  who  concerned  themfelves 
about  marriage;    a  ftrong  prefumption,  that  it  was 


210  THE  HISTORY 

not  confidcred  in  any  other  light  than   as   a  civil 
compact. 

Having  preraifed  thus  much  at  prefent,  on  a  fub- 
jeet  which  we  (hall  have  occafion  to  difcufs  more  ful- 
ly afterwards,  before  we  proceed  any  farther  in  our 
endeavours  to  invefligate  the  ceremonies  by  which 
men  and  women  were  joined  together  in  matrimony, 
we  mall  take  a  veiw  of  the  duties,  obligations,  and 
cuftomsof  thatftate;  and  as  the  manner  in  which 
wives  are  acquired,  often  determines  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  ufed  by  their  hufbands,  let  us  inquire 
into  the  former,  before  we  proceed  to  the  latter. 

Wherever  the  rights  of  nature  remain  unviolated 
byoppreffion,  women  have  a  power  of  difpofmg  of 
themfelves  in  matrimony;  where  thefe  rights  are  a 
little  infringed,  the  confent  of  parents,  relations,  or 
guardians  is  neceiTary;  where  they  are  totally  oblit- 
erated, they  are  difpofed  of  by  their  kindred,  or 
even  by  the  magiflrates,  to  the  higheft  bidder.  The 
legiflature  of  almoft  every  country  has  interdicted 
fuch  women  as  are  not  of  age  from  difpofmg  of 
themfelves ;  and  it  is  only  in  Europe,  where  the 
rights  of  nature  remain  fo  far  untouched,  that  even 
inch  women  as  are  of  age  enjoy  this  power.  It  is 
true,  that  a  woman  who  is  more  than  fourteen,  if 
flie  get  married  without  the  confent  of  her  parents, 
is  fo  bound,  that  the  parents  cannot  render  the  en- 
gagement void  ;  but  they  may  hinder  it  from  taking 
place,  if  they  are  informed  of  her  intention,  till  fhe 
has  completed  her  twenty-firfl  year,  which  they 
cannot  do  afterwards,  although  their  confent  is 
even  then  generally  afked  from  paternal  duty  and 
affection.  Among  the  Greeks,  Romans,  ?nd  feveral 
other  nations,  a  woman  never  obtained  any  power 
of  chufing  for  herfelf  a  partner  in  wedlock,  but  was 
through  life  entirely  at  the  difpofal  of  her  parents 


OF  WOMEN.  211 

and  guardians.  When  the  Roman  empire  was 
overturned,  and  the  feudal  fyflem  erefted  on  its  ruins, 
that  fyftem  ordained,  that  no  daughter  of  a  vaffal 
could  be  given  in  marriage  without  the  confent  of 
the  liege  lord,  as  well  as  of  her  own  parents  ;  and, 
at  this  day,  the  daughters  of  the  great,  even  in  the 
politeft  countries  of  Europe,  can  fcarcely  be  faid  to 
enjoy  any  dilpdfmg  power  of  themfelves,  being  fre- 
quently ftipulated  for  in  a  treaty  of  peace,  or  court- 
ed and  even  married  by  proxy  to  a  man  whom  they 
never  faw,  and  confequently  cannot  tell  v/hether 
they  mall  approve  of  or  not. 

But  of  all  the  modes  of  getting  pofTeflion  of  a 
wife,  after  the  firft  ages  of  barbarity  were  over,  that 
of  purchafmg  her  was  the  mofl  common ;  it  was  the 
practice  of  the  Eafr.  from  time  immemorial,  and  con- 
tinues fo  to  this  day.  We  have  feen  that  Abraham 
bought  Rebecca  for  his  fon;  that  Jacob,  deftitute  of 
any  thing  to  give,  ferved  Laban  fourteen  years  for 
his  two  daughters;  and  that  Sechem,  when  in  love 
with  Jacob's  daughter,  was  determined  not  to  break 
off  the  match  for  whatever  price  her  friends  might  fix 
upon  her:  and  we  now  add,  the  fame  cuftom  is 
mentioned  in  a  variety  of  places  of  Homer;  that  it 
was  praftifed  in  Thrace,  in  India,  Spain,  Germany, 
and  Gaul,  and  at  this  day  in  Hindoftan,  China, 
Tartar/,     Tonquin,  F,  key;   by  the  Moors 

of  Africa,  and  the  fa  s  .  a  variety  of  other  parts 

of  the  world.  In  Gaul,  during  the  fifth  century, 
the  princefs  Clotilda,  daughter  of  Gondebaud,  king 
of  the  Burgundians,  being  married  to  Clovis  by 
proxy,  the  proxy  prefented  her  with  a  fol  and  a  de- 
nier, as  the  price  of  her  virginity,  a  cuftom  which 
exiiled  among  that  people  '       yard.     This 

cuftom,  though  under  a  different  form,  maintained 
itfclf  flij]  longer  in  England  ;   in  the  time  of  Edward 


212  THE  HISTOID 

the  Third,  Richard  de  Neville  gave  twenty  palfreys 
to  the  king  to  obtain  his  requeft  to  Ifola  Biffet,  that 
fhe  {hould  take  him  for  a  hufband ;  and  Roger  Fitz- 
Walter  gave  three  good  palfreys,  to  have  the  king's 
letter  to  Roger  Bertram's  mother,  that  (he  (hould 
marry  him.  In  thofe  times,  when  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land exercifed  fo  unlimited  a  power  over  their  fub- 
jects,  the  king's  requeft,  or  his  letter,  amounted  to 
an  abfolute  command,  and  the  money  paid  to  obtain 
thefe,  was  as  literally  the  purchafe  of  a  wife,  as  if 
it  had  been  paid  for  at  a  public  fale. 

In  Timor,  an  iiland  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  it  is  faid, 
that  parents  fell  their  children  in  order'  to  purchafe 
more  wives.  In  Circaffia,  women  are  reared  anil 
improved  in  beauty  and  every  alluring  art,  only  for 
the  purpofe  of  being  fold.  The  prince  of  the  Cir- 
caflians  demanded  from  the  prince  of  Mingrelia  an 
hundred  flaves  loaded  with  tapeftry,  an  hundred 
cows,  as  many  oxen,  and  the  fame  number  of  hor- 
fes,  as  the  price  of  his  lifter.  In  New  Zealand,  we 
meet  with  a  cuftom  which  may  be  called  purchafmg 
a  wife  for  a  night,  and  which  is  a  proof  that  thofe 
mull  alfo  be  purchafed  who  are  intended  for  a  longer 
duration  ;  and  what  to  us  is  a  little  furprifing,  this 
temporary  wife,  infilled  upon  being  treated  with  as 
much  deference  and  refpecl,  as  if  flie  had  been  mar- 
ried for  life  ;  but  in  general,  this  is  not  the  cafe  in 
other  countries,  for  the  wife  who  is  purchafed,  is 
always  trained  up  in  the  principles  of  ilavery  ;  and, 
being  innured  to  every  indignity  and  mortification 
from  her  parents,  fhe  expects  no  better  treatment 
from  her  hufband. 

There  is  little  difference  in  the  condition  of  her 
who  is  put  to  fale  by  her  fordid  parents,  and  her 
who   is  difpofed  of  in  the  fame    manner  by  the 


OF  WOMEN,  213 

magistrates,  as  a  part  of  the  date's  property.  Befides 
thofe  we  have  already  mentioned  in  this  work, 
the  Thracians  put  the  faireft  of  their  virgins  up  to 
public  fale,  and  the  ma^'ilnues  cf  Crete  had  the 
fole  power  of  dhtiflfig  pawners  in  marriage  for  their 
young  men  ;  and,  in  the  execution  of  this  power, 
the  affection  and  interefl  of  the  parties  was  totally 
overlooked,  and  the  good  of  die  (late  the  only  ob- 
ject of  attention  ;  in  purfuing  which,  they  always 
allotteJ  th„  ftfbngeft  and  beft  made  of  the  fex  to  one 
another,  that  they  might  raife  up  a  generation  of 
warriors,  or  of  women  fit  to  be  the  mothers  of 
warriors. 

In  the  primitive  ages,  when  the  number  of  the 
human  race  was  but  few,  and  when  every  one  might 
confequently  appropriate  to  himfdf,  and  cultivate 
fuch  grounds  as  lay  mod  convenient  for  Ms  ufe; 
when  his  wife  and  children,  as  foon  as  they  were 
able,  affifted  in  this  and  every  other  kind  of  labour; 
a  wife  was  rather  an  advantage  than  otherwife,  and 
therefore  fhe  was  bought,  both  as  an  inflrnment  of 
propagation,  and  an  aiililani:  in  the  occupations  of 
life.  But  as  focieties  were  formed,  lands  and  goods 
of  every  kind  appropriated,  and  women  became, 
perhaps,  lefs  induflrious,  every  addition  to' a  family 
became  an  additional  ex pence;  hence,  iuilead  of  a 
man  paying  a  price  for  his  wife,  it  was  necefTary  he 
ihould  receive  fomething  along  with  her:  marriage, 
therefore,  became  a  compact  between  a  J»an  and 
one  or  more  women,  according  to  the  cuitom  of 
the  country;  to  join  their  flocks,  interefb,  and 
perfons  together,  that  they  might  be  the  better  ena- 
bled tc  bring  up  a  family,  and  carry  on  the  trade  or 
bufmefs  by  which  they  were  to  acquire  fubfillence; 
and  the  flock  or  fortune  of  a  woman  fo  married,  v*  as 
called  her  portion  or  dowry,  and  in  procefs  of  time 

vol.  11.  E  e 


n4  THE  HISTORY 

came  to  be  fettled  upon  her  as  a  fecurity  from  want, 
if  her  hufband  fhould  die  before  her. 

As  the  Egyptians  were  fuppofed  to  be  the  firft 
people  who  arrived  at  any  degree  of  cultivation, 
among  them  we  meet  with  the  firft:  account  of  por- 
tions. Pharaoh  gave  the  city  of  Gazer,  as  a  por- 
tion with  his  daughter,  to  Solomon  king  of  Ifrael. 
We  do  not  recollect  any  account  of  portions  given  by 
any  other  of  the  ancients,  till  we  come  to  the  Greeks; 
when  we  find  Phares  of  Chalcedon,  ordering,  by  a 
law,  that  the  rich  fhould  give  portions  with  their 
daughters  to  the  poor,  but  receive  none  with  fuch 
wives  as  were  married  to  their  fons ;  a  law,  which 
he  had  founded  on  the  cuftom  of  his  country ;  for 
Helen  brought  to  Menelaus  the  kingdom  of  Sparta, 
and  afterwards,  in  default,  we  fuppofe,  of  male 
heirs,  the  daughters  of  feveral  Grecian  kings  car- 
ried the  kingdoms  of  their  fathers,  as  dowries  to 
their  hufbands.  But  although  this  was  the  cafe  with 
regard  to  kingdoms,  yet  the  contrary  feems  in  other 
cafes  to  have  been  the  general  practice,  as  we  learn 
from  the  ftory  of  Danaus,  whofe  daughters  having 
rendered  themfel  ves  infamous,  their  father  caufed  a 
proclamation  to  be  made,  that  he  would  not  demand 
any  prefents  from  thofe  who  mould  marry  them; 
and  from  the  conduct  of  Agamemnon  to  Achilles, 
when  he  tells  him,  that  he  will  give  him  one  of  his 
daughters  in  marriage,  without  requiring  any  pre- 
fents. The  prefents  here  mentioned  were  of  two 
kinds ;  the  firft  was  given  to  the  father  of  the  lady, 
as  a  bribe  or  price  to  engage  him  to  give  his  daugh- 
ter to  the  fuitor;  the  fecond,  to  the  lady  herfclf,  in 
order  to  gain  her  affection:  and  fome  authors  are  of 
opinion,  that  the  prefents  thus  made  to  the  father 
and  the  daughter,  were  joined  together  to  compofe 
the  fortune  of  the  latter,  which  was  fettled  upon  her 


OF  WOMEN.  215 

as  her  dower;  {o  that  if  the  hufband  did  not  lite- 
rally purchafe  a  bride,  he  bribed  her  to  his  arms, 
and  to  an  independence,  with  his  own  money. 

As  the  principles  of  equity  and  of  juitice  began  to 
be  underftood,  it  was  eafy  to  difcover,  that  women 
who  had  affifled  their  fathers  and  hu (bands  in  acquir- 
ing the  goods  of  fortune,  fliouid  not  be  given  in 
marriage  by  the  firfl  without  portions,  nor  left  by 
the  laft  at  death  without  fettlements  as  an  equivalent 
for  thefe  portions ;  hence  the  cuftom  of  receiving"  a 
fortune  with  a  bride,  and  fettling  at  leaft  an  equiva- 
lent upon  her  and  her  heirs,  iufinuated  itlelf  into 
every  country,  in  proportion  as  its  inhabitants  be- 
came civilized,  and  acquainted  with  the  natural  rights 
of  mankind,  » 


2i6  THE  HISTORY 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 


The  fame  Subject  continued. 


3E SIDES  the  methods  of  purchafmg 
wives,  and  agreeing  with  them  by  a  mutual  compact, 
polygamy  and  concubinage  are  circumftances  which 
greatly  influence  the  conduct  of  a  hufband  towards 
them.  Polygamy,  or  the  cnllom  of  manying  a 
plurality  of  women,  began  in  a  very  early  period  of 
the  world.  Lamech,  one  of  the  fons  of  Adam, 
took  two  wives,  and  from  that  time  forward  it  is 
probable,  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Eafl  follow- 
ed his  example,  and  took  as  many  as  their  inclina- 
tions and  circumftances  would  allow  of.  From  the 
manners  of  the  primitive  ages,  we  may  fuppofe,  that 
concubinage  followed  foon  after  polygamy,  though 
we  have  no  difrinct  account  of  it  till  the  time  of 
Abraham,  in  whofe  hiftory  we  are  prefented  with 
the  ceremony  of  making  a  concubine ;  a  ceremony 
which  to  us  at  this  period  appears  not  lefs  lingular 
than  unnatural.  Sarai,  Abraham's  wife,  being  bar- 
ren, takes  her  handmaid  Hagar,  prcfents  her  to  her 
hufband,  and  prays  him  to  go  in  unto  her,  and  raife 
up  feed  to  Sarai.  Although  we  are  not  here  told  of 
any  compulfion  on  the  part  of  Abraham,  it  would, 
nevertheless,  fcem  that  this  was  not  altogether  a 
voluntary  act  of  his  wife,  as  it  is  fo  natural  for  wo- 
men to  fubmit  with  reluctance,  to  allow  another  to 
fhare  the  embraces  of  their  hufbaods,  which  c \ tn 
now  in  Hindollan,  where  the  practife  has  iiibfifted 
time  immemorial,  they  are  brought  to  with  the 
^reatefi:  difficulty;  as  we  find  by  cue  of  the  laws  of 


OF  WOMEN.  217 

that  people,  which  ordains,  "  that  wherever  a  huf. 
band,  on  his  contracting  iecond  marriage,  may  give 
his  wife  to  pacify  her,  is  to  be  reckoned  her  own 
property." 

Folygamy  and  concubinage  having  in  procefs  of 
time  become  falhionable  vices,  the  number  of  wo- 
men kept  by  the  great  became  at  laft  more  an  article 
^  of  grandeur  and  date,  than  a  mode  of  fatiilying  the 
animal  appetite  :  Solomon  had  threeicore  queens, 
and  fourfcore  concubines,  and  virgins  without  num- 
ber. Maimon  tells  us,  that  among  the  Jews  a  man 
might  have  as  many  wives  as  he  pleafed,  even  to  the 
number  of  a  hundred,  and  that  it  was  not  in  their 
power  to  hinder  him,  provided  he  could  maintain, 
and  pay  them  all  the  conjugal  debt  once  a  week  ; 
but  in  this  duty  he  was  not  to  run  in  arrear  to  any  of 
them  above  one  month,  though  with  regard  to  con- 
cubines he  might  do  as  he  pleaied. 

It  would  be  an  endlefs  talk  to  enumerate  all  the 
nations  which  practifed  polvgamv  ;  we  (hall,  there- 
fore, only  mention  a  few,  where  the  practice  feemed 
to  vary  fomething  from  the  common  method.  The 
ancient  Sabceans  are  not  only  faid  to  have  had  a  plu- 
rality, but  even  a  community  of  wives ;  a  thing 
drongly  inconfiflent  with  that  fpirit  of  jealoufy  which 
prevails  among  tne  men  in  moft  countries  where 
polygamy  is  allowed.  The  ancient  Germans  were 
l'o  ftrt£t  monogamies  *,  that  they  reckoned  it  a 
fpecies  of  polygamy  for  a  woman  to  marry  a  fecond 
hufband,  even  after  the  death  of  the  fird.  "  A 
woman,  fay  they,  has  but  one  life,  and  one  body, 
therefore  fhould  have  but  one  hufband  ;"  and  be- 
fides,  they  added,  "  that  fhe  who  knows  (he  is  ne- 

*  Monogamy  is  having  only  one  wife. 


218  THE  HISTORY 

ver  to  have  a  fecond  hu{band,  will  the  more  value 
and  endeavour  to  promote  the  happinefs  and  preferve 
the  life  of  the  firft."  Among  the  Heruli  this  idea 
was  carried  farther,  a  woman  was  obliged  to  flran- 
gle  herfelf  at  the  death  of  her  hufband,  left  fhe 
fhould  afterwards  marry  another  ;  fo  deteftable  was 
polygamy  in  the  North,  while  in  the  Eaft  it  is  one 
of  thefe  rights  which  they  moil  of  all  others  efteem, 
and  maintain  with  fuch  inflexible  firmnefs,  that  it 
will  probably  be  one  of  the  laft  of  thofe  that  it  will 
wrefl  out  of  their  hands. 

The  Egyptians,  it  is  probable,  did  not  allow  of 
polygamy,  and  as  the  Greeks  borrowed  their  infti- 
tutions  from  them,  it  was  alfo  forbid  by  the  laws  of 
Cecrops,  though  concubinage  feems  either  to  have 
been  allowed  or  overlooked  ;  for  in  the  OdyfTey  of 
Homer  we  find  Ulyffes  declaring  himfelf  to  be  the 
fon  of  a  concubine,  which  he  would  probably  not 
have  done,  had  any  great  degree  of  infamy  been 
annexed  to  it.  In  fome  cafes,  however,  polygamy 
was  allowed  in  Greece,  from  a  miftaken  notion  that 
it  would  increafe  population.  The  Athenians,  once 
thinking  the  number  of  their  citizens  diminifhed, 
decreed  that  it  fhould  be  lawful  for  a  man  to  have 
children  by  another  woman  as  well  as  by  his  wife  ; 
befides  this,  particular  inftances  occur  of  fome  who 
tranfgreffed  the  law  of  monogamy.  Euripides  is 
faid  to  have  had  two  wives,  who,  by  their  conftant 
diiagreement,  gave  him  a  diflike  to  the  whole  fex ; 
a  fuppofition  which  receives  fome  weight  from  thefe 
lines  of  his  in  Andromache  : 

-ne'er  will  I  commend 


More  beds,  more  wives  than  one,  nor  children  curs'd 
With  double  mothers,  banes  and  plagues  of  life. 


OF  WOMEN.  219 

Socrates  too  had  two  wives,  but  the  poor  culprit 
had  as  much  reafon  to  repent  of  his  temerity  as  Eu- 
ripides. 

Polygamy  feems  not  to  have  been  entirely  eradi- 
cated among  the  Chriftians  in  the  fixth  century,  as 
we  find  it  then  enacted  in  the  canons  of  one  of  their 
councils,  that  if  any  one  is  married  to  many  wives 
he  fhall  do  penance.  Even  the  clergy  themfelves, 
in  this  period,  pra&ifed  bigamy,*  as  we  find  it  or- 
dained by  another  councir  held  at  Narbonne,  that 
fuch  clergymen  as  were  bigamiih,  lliould  only  be 
prefbyters  and  deacons,  and  mould  not  be  allowed 
to  marry  and  confecrate.  But  our  allonifhment  is 
dill  more  excited,  to  find  inftances  of  bigamy  and 
polygamy  fo  late  as  the  iixteenth  century.  The  Ger- 
man reformers,  though  their  declared  intention  was 
to  conform  literally  to  the  precepts  of  the  gofpel, 
were,  neverthelefs,  inclined  to  introduce  bigamy  as 
not  inconfonant  with  thefe  precepts.  Philip,  Land- 
grve  of  Keffe  CafTel,  wanted,  in  the  lifetime  of  his 
wife,  to  marry  a  young  lady,  named  Catharine  Saal, 
and  having  fome  fcrupies  of  confcience,  though  in 
every  other  refpect.  a  man  of  good  fenfe,  he  feemed 
to  believe,  that,  with  the  approbation  of  Luther  and 
his  brethren,  the  moral  turpitude,  if  there  was  any 
in  marrying  two  wives,  might  be  let  aiide  ;  he, 
therefore,  represented  to  them  his  cafe,  and  told 
them,  that  his  'wife,  the  princefs  of  Savoy,  was 
ugly,  had  bad  fmeils  about  her,  and  often  got 
drunk-;  and  that  his  conftitution  was  fuch  as  laid 
him  under  the  frequent  neceflity  of  gratifying  his 
appetite  ;  and  concluded,  with  fome  artful  hints,  that 
,     ;fs  they  grafted  him  a  difpenfation  to  marry  ano- 

*  He  who  .marries  two  wives  comaaits  bigamy  j  if  more  than 
twjj  it  is  polygamy. 


220  THE  HISTORY 

fiber  Wife,  he  wcuid  aik  it  of  the  pope.  Luther, 
Upon  this,  convoked  a  fyndd  of  fix  reformers,  who 
found  that  polygamy  had  been  praclifed  by  a  Roman 
emperor,  and  by  ieveral  of  the  kings  of  the  Franks  ; 
that  marriage  was  only  a  civil  compact,  and  thai: 
the  gofpel  had  no  where  in  exprefs  terms  command- 
ed monogamy.  They  therefore  figned  a  permillion 
for  Philip  to  marry  another  wife,  which  he  did  foon 
after,  with  the  feeming  content  of  his  flrit  wife,  the 
princefs  of  Savoy  ;  and  thus  Luther  exercifed  an 
authority  which  not  even  the  molt  enterprifmg  of  the 
popes,  in  the  plenitude  of  their  temporal  and  apof- 
tolic  power,  had  ever  dared  to  attempt. 

The  famous  Jack  of  Leyden,  who  is  fo  well  known 
in  hiftoryj  pretending  himfelf  to  be  a  prophet  and  a 
king,  thought  that  in  the  article  of  women  he  had  a 
right  to  follow  the  example  of  the  kings  of  Ifrael,  by 
taking  as  many  wives  as  he  thought  proper,  and 
actually  proceeded  fo  far  as  to  marry  feventeen,  and 
had  he  not  been  cut  fliort  in  the  career  of  his  glory 
and  fanaticifm,  would  probably  have  married  twice 
that  number. 

As  the  men  have  almoft  in  all  countries  arrogated 
to  themfelves  the  power  of  making  laws  and  of  go- 
verning the  women,  they  have  in  a  great  variety  of 
places  indulged  in  a  plurality  of  wives, but  almoft  en- 
tirely debarred  the  women  of  a  plurality  of  hufbands; 
there  are,  neverthelels,  a  few  inftances  of  their  en- 
joying this  privilege,  in  places  where  their  credit  and 
iniluer.ee  feem  equal,  if  not  fuperior  to  their  huf- 
bands. We  have  already  taken  notice,  that  in  fome 
provinces  of  ancient  Media,  the  women  had  a  plu- 
rality of  hufbands,  as  the  men  in  others  had  a  plu- 
rality of  wives.  On  the  coaft  of  Malabar,  a  woman 
may  have  to  the  number  of  twelve  hufbands  ;   and  in 


OF  WOMEN.  221 

fome  cantons  of  the  Iroquois  in  North  America,  (he 
may  have  feveral.  Father  Tanchard  reports,  that. 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Calicut,  the  women  of  the 
fuperior  calls  may  have  a  variety  of  hufbands,  and 
that  fome  of  them  actually  have  ten,  all  of  whom 
they  confider  as  (o  many  ilaves  fubjecl:  to  their 
charms.  A  .gentleman  who  has  lately  vifited  the 
kingdoms  of  Bautan  and  Thibet,  obferves,  that  all 
the  males  of  a  family  are  frequently  ferved  by  one 
wife.  Such  inftitutions,  as  they  militate  againit.  the 
jurifdiclion  of  the  men,  and  are  deviations  from  the 
cuftom  of  almofl  all  countries,  mu£  have  originated 
from  extraordinary  and  uncommon  circumilaiiLes  ; 
but  what  thefe  were,  or  when  they  took  place,  are 
among  the  defiderata  of  hiftcry,  which  are  bit  in  the 
abyfs  of  antiquity. 

It  would  only  be  treading  the  path,  which  hundreds 
have  trod  before  us,  fhculd  we  attempt  here  to 
recite  all  the  arguments  that  have  been  ufed  for  and 
againit  polygamy  :  the  greateft  part  of  thofe  againil 
it,  have  always  turned  upon  this  hinge,  that  ail 
men  are  by  nature  equal,  and  have  consequently  an 
equal  right  to  a  wife;  that  the  two  fexes  are  nearly 
'equal  in  number;  and  where  one  man  marries  a  va- 
riety of  women,  there  can  be  none  left  for  fevera! 
others.  We  pretend  not  to  favour  polygamy,  as  we 
think  it  far  from  being  either  natural  or  political; 
but  we  cannot  help  obferviug  one  circumftance, 
which  we  do  not  recollect  to  have  met  with,  that 
in  the  countries  where  it  is  practifcd,  it  becomes  in 
fome  degree  neceilary,  on  account  of  the  great  num- 
ber of  eunuchs,  which  retake  the  number  of  women 
greatly  exceed  tfrat'ofthe  mt  1;  ,fp  that  while  .  . 
infamous  practice  of  making  eunuJis  ia  allowed, 
polygamy  mud  be  allowed  ajfo,  ornerwiie  many  "wo- 
men rmi&for  ever  want  1 
vol.  ir. 


222  THE  HISTORY 

Wherever  women  are  confidered  in  fo  mean  a 
light  as  to  be  purchafed  for  money;  wherever  they 
have  not  influence  or  power  to  prevent  their  huf- 
bands  from  the  practices  of  polygamy  and  concubi- 
nage, the  treatment  they  receive  from  thefe  huf- 
bands  is  regulated  by  the  methods  of  acquiring  them. 
A  man  thinks  it  hard,  if  he  has  not  the  liberty  of 
difpofing  of  what  he  purchafed,  when  he  is  no  lon- 
ger pleafed  with  it:  hence,  wherever  wives  are 
bought,  they  are  generally  divorced  at  pleafure;  and 
what  feems  dill  lefs  natural,  they  are  Sometimes  bor- 
rowed and  lent,  like  a  piece  of  money,  or  of  fur- 
nit;  v-e.  The  Spartans  Tent  a  wife  with  as  much  in- 
difference, as  they  would  have  done  a  horfe,  or  an 
afs;  and  the  elder  Cato  is  faid  to  have  philofophifed 
himfelf  into  the  fame  cuftom.  Where  polygamy 
takes  place,  a  hufnand  is  naturally  deafened  with 
the  jealoufies  and  contentions  of  his  wives;  and  on 
that  account  finds  it  neceffary  to  rule  them  more 
with  the  iron  rod  of  a  tyrant,  than  the  love  and 
affection  of  an  hufband. 

Matrimony,  in  all  nations,  being  a  compact  be- 
tween a  male  and  female,  for  the  purpofe  of  conti- 
nuing the  fpecies,  the  fir  ft:  and  mofl  neceffary  obli- 
gation of  it  }ias  been  thought  fidelity;   but,  by  va- 
rious people,  this  fidelity  has  been  varioufiy  under- 
stood:   almoft   all  nations,    however,    ancient  and 
modern,  have  agreed  in  requiring  the  mofl:  abfolute 
unconditional  fidelity  on   the  part  of  the  woman; 
while,  on   that  of  the   man,    greater  latitude  has 
been    given.       Thus   we  have  feen,    that  though 
among  the  Jews  a  woman  was  ffrictly  confined  to 
.    man,  the   maa  was  allowed  as  many  wives  and 
concubines  as  inclination  dictated,  and  circumftaiu es 
!  lowed :  nor  was  this  the  cafe  only  among  the  Jew% 
a        the   Babylonians,    Aflyrians,    Medes, 


OF  WOMEN.  225 

Perfrans,  and  indeed  among  the  greater!  part  of  the 
inhabitants  of  ths  E&ft,  where  it  continues  to  this 
day:  but  its  prefent  exi [fence  is  not  confined  to  the 
Eait;  it  fpreads  itfelf  over  feveral  other  parts  of  the 
globe,  and  is  found  even  in  North  America;  where 
the  Moxes  indulge  in  polygamy  and  concubinage, 
and  at  the  fame  time  pimlfh,  with  the  moll  exem- 
plary feverity,  the  lead  appearance  of  unchaility  in 
their  wives.  Civilians;,  who  have  endeavoured  to 
affign  a  reafon  for  this  difference,  tell  us,  that  the 
hand  of  feverity  is  held  fo  ciofely  over  the  inconti- 
nence of  married  women,  and  fo  much  latitude  given 
to  the  men,  becaufe  the  men  generally  have  the  care 
cf  providing  for  the  offspring;  and  it  would  be  hard 
that  a  man  mould  be  obliged  to  provide  for,  and 
leave  his  eftate  to  children,  which  he  could  never 
with  certainty  call  his  own,  were  the  fame  indulgence 
given  to  the  women  as  to  the  men.  A  fhorter  way 
of  explaining  the  matter,  would  have  been,  to  have 
faid,  that  men  are  generally  the  framers  and  explain- 
ers of  the  law.  Where  women  have  fliared  in  the 
legiflations  they  have  put  their  own  fex  on  a  more 
equal  footing  with  ours. 

Where  civil  fociety  has  made  little  or  no  progrefs, 
the  diftinguifhifig  chara&eriit. ic  of  power  is  to  tyran- 
nize over  weaknefs,  wherever  it  is  found,  or  how- 
ever it  is  circumftanced ;  nature  having  given  to 
men  ftronger  bodies,  and,  in  ibme  refpect  ,  per- 
haps, flronger  minds  than  to  Women,  till  taught  by 
culture,  and  foftened  by  polhenefs,  they  have 
always  made  ufe  of  that  itrength  to  enflave  them. 
OF  the  truth  of  this,  the  whole  hillory  of  every  fa  - 
vage  period  and  people  is  a  proof;  but  we  ihall  de- 
scend to  fome  particular  instances;  and  the  firft  is, 
the  almoft  unlimited  power  veiled  in  the  Jewiih  huf- 
bands,  of  divorcing  their  wives  at  pleafure,  without 


224  THE 'HISTORY 

aligning  any  tolerable  reafon  for  fo  doing..  Ano* 
ther  proof,  was  the  trial  of  jealoufy,  which  we  have 
already  mentioned;  a  ceremony,  the  moft  arbitrary 
and  extraordinary  that  we  are  prefented  with  tm  the 
annals  of  hiftory.  When  to  thefe  we  add  their 
power  of  annulling  the  moft  folemn  vows  of  their 
wives,  and  of  turning  them  into  menial  fervants, 
there  remains  not  the  lead:  {hadow  of  a  doubt,  that 
their  conduct  was  unequitable  and  tyrannical. — 
But  we  Ihould  be  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to 
fay,  that  they  wrere  the  only  people  \»  ho  behaved  to 
their  wives  in  this  manner;  which,  however,  was 
far  from  being  the  cafe;  wives  are  confined  by  all 
the  tyrants  of  the  Eaft,  enflaved  byal'  the  ages 
of  America  and  elfewhere;  and  the. read  niy 

turn  back  to  the  chapter  on  the  r.  ;k  and  i  ondition 
of  women,  to  have  the  moil  ample  coi  ,  :~r  :  of 
thefe,  and  many  other  illegal  practices,  to  which 
they  were  obliged  to  fubmit. 

But  befides  the  illegal  advantages,  which  power 
is  ever  apt  to  alfurae,  when  oppoled  to  weaknefs ;  as 
men  were  almoft  every  where  the  lawgivers,  moll  of 
the  legal  advantages  of  matrimony  were  alio  on  their 
fide.  Whoever  among  the  Jews  had  married  a  v\  ife, 
could,  not,  on  any  account,  be  forced  to  leave  her 
for  the  fpace  of  one  year.  Almoft  every  where,  to 
command  and  to  rule,  are  powers  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  husband.  Among  the  Romans,  even 
in  their  moft  polifhed  ft  ate,  in  certain  cafes,  the  huf- 
band  might  proceed  fo  far  as  to  punifli  his  wife  by 
death.  Amongft  almoft  every  lavage  people,  whip- 
ping, and  even  death  itfelf,  are  frequently  inflicted 
by  an  enraged  husband.  In  a  council  of  the  Chris- 
tian prelates  and  clergy,  held  in  the  year  400,  it 
was  decreed,  that  if  any  clergyman's  wife  had  tinned, 


OF  WOMEN.  225 

her  husband  fliould  keep  her  bound,  and  rafting  in 
his  houfe;  only  he  fliould  not  take  away  her  life. 

The  Brazilians  take  as  many  wives  as  they  think 
proper,  difmifs  them  when  they  find  it  convenient, 
and  punifh.  their  incontinence  with  death.  In  Eu- 
rope, the  power  of  a  husband  is  considerably  exten- 
ded by  the  laws  of  the  gofpel,  and  of  the  conftitution, 
both  over  the  perfon  and  property  of  his  wife ;  but 
this  power  is  generally  executed  with  fo  much  lenity 
arid  indulgence  that  a  ftranger,  on  feeing  a  fpoufe 
and  his  loving  rib  together,  would  be  apt  to  imagine 
it  was  placed  on  her  fide.  This  is  owing,  in  fome 
meafure,  to  politcnefs,  as  well  as  to  fortune;  for 
fuch  is  the  power  of  fortune  and  property  over  the 
conduct  of  the  human  fpecies  to  each  other,  that 
they  conhVantly  command  at  leafs:  the  external  appear- 
ance of  deference  to  the  poffeffor :  wherever,  there- 
fore, portions  become  fafhionable,  they  obliterate  the 
flavery  of  a  wife  to  her  husband,  put  a  ftop  to  poly- 
gamy, and  difcountenance  concubinage;  for  what 
woman  will  volantarily  purchafe  a  tyrant,  or  give 
the  whole  of  her  fortune  for  the  ihare  only  of  a  huf- 
band;  which  (hare  fhe  muft.  maintain  againft  an  un- 
limited number  of  rivals.  While  an  European  wife, 
therefore,  bringing  an  acquiiition  of  wealth  along 
with  her,  is  treated  by  her  husband  as  his  equal, 
and  frequently  honoured  with  fuperior  notice,  the 
wife  of  an  Eaftern,  being  purchafed,  is  confidered 
as  his  ilave;  is  never  allowed  to  eat  with,  or  in  the 
prefence  of  her  husband;  feldom  to  fit  down  in  his 
company,  and  always  obliged  to  him  as  to  a  mailer 
and  fuperior :  and  not  even  content  with  her  paying 
him  all  thefe  teftimonies  of  refpecl  in  his  prefence, 
fhe  is  obliged  to  fubmit  to  a  variety  of  mortifications 
in  his  abfence. 


226  THE  HISTORY 

"  If  a  man,  fays  the  Shatter,*  goes  oft  a  journey, 
his  wife  (hall  not  divert  herfelf,  nor  play,  nor  fhall 
ilie  fee  any  public  {how,  nor  (hall  laugh,  nor  fhall 
drefs  herfelf  in  jewels  and  fine  clothes,  nor  fhall  fhe 
fee  dancing,  nor  hear  mufic,  nor  fhall  fit  in  the 
window,  nor  fhall  ride  out,  nor  fhall  behold  any 
thing  choice  and  rare  ;  but  fhall  fatten  well  the 
houfe-door,  and  remain  private,  and  fhall  not 
blacken  her  eyes  with  eye-powder,  and  fhall  not 
view  her  face  in  a  mirror  ;  fhe  fhall  never  exercife 
herfelf  in  any  agreeable  employment  during  the  ab- 
fence  of  her  hufband." 

For  all  thefe  mortifications,  one  would  naturally 
expect  fome  kind  treatment  and  indulgence  from  the 
husband,  when  he  returns  home  :  but  the  contrary 
is  the  cafe;  for  we  are  alfo  informed  by  the  Shatter, 
that  if  fhe  fcolds  him,  he  may  turn  her  away  ;  that 
he  may  do  the  fame,  if  fhe  quarrels  with  any  body 
elfe,  fpoils  his  or  her  own  property,  or  even  if  fhe 
prefumes  to  eat  before  he  has  finifhed  his  meal ;  and 
that  he  may  ceafc  from  any  further  conjugal  duty, 
if  flic  is  barren,  or  always  brings  forth  daughters. 

Although  the  men  have  conttantly  affirmed  the 
power  of  making  human,  and  explaining  divine,  laws, 
yet  they  have  not  left  fuch  women  as  entered  into 
the  ttate  of  matrimony  entirely  without  privileges. 
Among  the  Jews,  when  a  man  married  an  additional 
wife,  the  food,  raiment,  and  duty  of  a  husband,  he 
was  in  noways  to  diminifh  to  thofe  he  had  before. — 
Mahomet,  when  he  permitted  every  man  to  have 
four  wives,  eafily  forefeeing  that  fome  of  them  would 
be  neglected,  while  others  were  greater  favourites, 
positively  inttituted,  that  every  thing,  as  provilions, 

*  The  Shatter  is  the  Bible  of  the  Hindoos. 


OF  WOMEN.  227 

clrefs  ,and  the  duty  of  a  husband,  ihould  be  equally 
divided  among  them.  In  the  Maldivian  iiles,  a  man 
is  allowed  to  marry  three  wives,  and  is  obliged  to 
obferve  the  fame  law.  This  law  appears  to  have 
been  among  the  jews,  in  order  to  prevent  the  in- 
creafe  of  polygamy,  which  was  every  day  becoming- 
more  common  ;  and  it  feems  to  have  been  well  cal- 
culated for  that  purpofe,  efpecially  in  the  lafl  claufe, 
as  it  will  readily  be  agreed,  that  no  husband  was 
able  to  render  the  fame  duty  of  marriage  to  a  plura- 
lity of  wives,  that  he  had  done  to  one.  Among  this 
people,  alfo,  a  bond  fervant-maid  was  liable  at  any 
time  to  be  fold  ;  but  by  being  betrothed  to  the  fon 
of  her  matter,  he  could  not  afterwards  fell  her, 
though  he  might  turn  her  away,  without  performing 
the  promifed  marriage. 

At  what  period,  or  by  whom,  the  laws  of  the 
Egyptians  were  firft  promulgated,  is  uncertain  ;  but 
if  what  has  been  aflerted  by  fome  ancient  authors  be 
true,  that  the  men,  in  their  marriage-contracts,  pro- 
mifed obedience  to  their  wives,  we  may  fuppole  that 
the  women  had  no  inconfiderable  (hare  in  their  legis- 
lation, otherwise  they  could  hardly  have  obtained 
fo  lingular  a  privilege.  But,  fmguiar  as  this  privi- 
lege may  appear,  it  is  yet  exceeded  by  the  power  of 
wives  in  the  Marian  ifiands  :  there,  a  wife  is  abfo- 
lutcly  miftrels  of  every  thing  in  the  honfe,  not  the 
fmailcft  article  of  which,  can  the  husband  difpofe  of 
without  her  permiilion  ;  and  if  he  proves  ill-humour- 
ed, obftinate,  or  irregular  in  his  conduct,  the  wife 
either  corrects  him,  or  leaves  him  altogether,  car- 
rying all  her  moveables,  property,  and  children 
along  with  her.  Should  a  husband  furprile  his  wife 
in  adultery,  he  may  kiii  her  gallant,  but  by  no 
means  muii  ufe  her  ill.  But  mould  a  wife  detect 
her  husband  in  infidelity,  fhe  may  inflict  upon  him 


228  THE  HISTORY 

what  punifliment  fne  pleafes  ;  to  execute  which,  flie 
never  fails  to  alterable  all  the  women  in  the 
neighbourhood,  who,  with  their  husband's  caps 
on  their  heads,  and  armed  with  lances,  march  to 
the  houfe  of  the  culprit,  tear  up  all  his  plants,  de- 
ftroy  his  grain,  and  hating  ruined  every  thing  with- 
out doors,  fall  like  furies  upon  his  houfe,  and  de- 
ftroy  it,  together  with  the  owner,  if  he  is  not  alrea- 
dy fled.  But  befdes  this  punifliment  inflicted  on  his 
incontinence,  if  the  wife  does  no:  like  her  husband, 
file  complains  thru  fhe  cannot  live  with  him,  and  ga- 
thers together  her  relations,  who,  glad  of  the  op- 
portunity, 'under  his  houfe,  and  a]  proprfate  to  the 
wife  ant:  o  tfiemfelves  t  fp^)il;  Stich  :  ■  legds, 
hov.v-  -.  •-.  .  cannol  fn  pofe  to  be  legal,  a  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Marian  iflands  are  too  rude  to  have 
many  laws,  and  too  little  under  the  fubjection  of 
their  governors,  to  obferve  thofe  they  have. 

Such  of  the  ofHcers  of  the  Grand  Signior  as  are 
married  to  his  daughters  or  fillers,  are  honoured  in 
public,  but  in  private  debated  by  the  alliance;  for 
they  are  not  allowed  to  come  into  the  prefence  ot 
their  wives,  nor  to  fit  down  by  them,  without  their 
pertniffion,  and  almoil  in  every  particular  are  obliged 
to  act  in  a  character  little  lefs  fubordinate  than  the 
meaneft  of  their  (laves.  Among  the  Matches,  the 
daughters  of  noble  families  are  by  law  obliged  to 
marry  only  into  obfeure  families,  that  they  may  exert 
a  governing  and  directing  power  over  their  huf- 
bands  ;  which  they  do  fo  effectually,  that  they  turn 
ihem  away  when  they  pleafe,  and  replace  them  by 
others  of  the  fame  (hit  ion.  Such  is  their  punifliment 
for  the  {lighter  offences  againfl  the  majefty  of  their 
wives  ;  but  when  any  of  them  are  unfaithful  to  the 
marriage-bed,  thofe  wives  have  a  power  of  life  or 
death  over  them.     Wives  who  are  of  the  blood  of 


GF  WOMEN. 


22Q 


their  great  fun,  or  chief,  may  have  as  many  gallants 
as  they  pleafe,  nor  mud  their  daftardly  hufbands 
fo  much  as  feem  to  fee  it.  But  this  is  not  all :  fuch 
hufbands  muft,  while  in  the  prefence  of  their  wives, 
ffcand  in  the  moll  refpeclful  pofture,  accoil  them  in 
the  fame  fubmiilive  tone  as  their  domeltics,  and  are 
not  allowed  to  eat  with  them,  nor  derive  any  privi- 
lege from  fo  exalted  an  alliance,  but  exemption 
from  labour,  which  is  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  every  fpecies  of  debafement  and  mortification. 
The  Moxes,  a  people  alfo  of  North-America,  are 
faid  to  be  obliged  by  law  to  yield  a  moil  obfequious 
obedience  to  their  wives,  and  to  (hi  ft  their  habita- 
tions, and  follow  them,  when,  and  to  what  place 
they  mail  direct. 

Among  the  ancient  Germans,  and  other  north- 
ern nations,  we  have  feen  that  women  were  in 
general  honoured  and  efteemed,  but  we  have  no 
account  of  their  wives  being  diftinguiihed  by  any 
particular  privilege.  Among  a  few  of  their  tribes, 
however,  who  allowed  of  polygamy,  one  of  the 
wives  always  claimed  and  exercifed  a  fuperiority 
over  the  reft;  but  her  prerogative  was  dearly  pur- 
chafed,  if  Die  furvived  herhufband,  for  Die  was  obli- 
ged to  burn  herfclf  on  his  funeral  pile.  In  Turkey, 
where  the  moil  unlimited  polygamy  and  concubinage 
are  allowed,  the  privilege  of  the  lawful  wives  is, 
that  they  can  claim  the  hufbands  every  Friday  night; 
but  every  other  night  he  may,  if  he  pleafes,  dedi- 
cate to  his  concubines.  Even  among  the  Hindoos, 
where  women  have  little  regard  paid  to  them  but 
as  the  inftruments  of  animal  pleafure,  the  property 
of  a  wife  is  fecured  from  her  husband;  and  we  are 
told  by  their  laws,  that  he  may  not  take  it  without 
her  confent,  unlefs  on  account  of  ficknefs,  or  ro 
fatisfy  the  demands  of  a  creditor,  who  has  confined 

VOL.  II.  G  2 


*3«:  THE   HISTORY 

without  visual s  ;  and  that  if,  on  any  other 
account,  he  mould  feize  on  it,  he  (hall  be  obliged 
to  repay  it  with  interefl. 

As  fidelity  to  the  marriage-bed,  efpecially  on  the 
part  of  the  woman,  has  always  been  confidered  as 
one  of  the  mod  eflential  duties  of  matrimony,  all 
wife  legislators,  in  order  to  fecure  that  fidelity,  have 
annexed  fome  punifhment  to  the  breach  of  it ;  thefe 
punifliments,  however,  have  generally  fome  refe- 
rence to  the  manner  in  which  wives  were  acquired, 
and  to  the  value  (lamped  upon  women  by  civilization 
and  politenefs  of  manners.  It  is  ordained  by  the 
Mofaic  code,  that  both  the  man  and  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery  (hall  be  (toned  to  death ;  whence 
it  would  feem,  that  no  more  latitude  was  given  to 
the  male  than  to  the  female.  But  this  was  not  the 
cafe  ;  fuch  an  unlimited  power  of  concubinage  was 
oiven  to  the  men,  that  we  may  fuppofe  him  highly 
licentious  indeed,  who  could  not  be  fatisfied  there- 
with, without  committing  adultery.  The  Egyptians, 
among  whom  women  were  greatly  efteemed,  had  a 
fingular  method  of  puniihing  adulterers  of  both 
fexes  ;  they  cut  off  the  privy  parts  of  the  man,  that 
he  might  never  be  able  to  debauch  -another  woman  ; 
and  the  nofe  of  the  woman,  that  (he  might  never 
be  the  objeci  of  temptation  to  another  man. 

Punifliments  nearly  of  the  fame  nature,  and  per- 
haps nearly  about  the  fame  time,  were  inftituted  in 
the  Eaft  Indies  againft  adulterers ;  but  while  thofe 
of  the  Egyptians  originated  from  a  love  of  virtue 
and  of  their  women,  thofe  of  the  Plindoos  probably 
arofe  from  jealoufy  and  revenge.  It  is  ordained  by 
the  Shatter,  that  if  a  man  commit  adultery  with  a 
woman  of  a  fuperior  eaft,  he  (hall  be  put  to  death  ; 
if  by  force  he  commit  adultery  with  a  woman  of  an 


OF  WOMEN.  23* 

equal  or  inferior  call,  the  magiftrate  fhall  cenfifcate 
all  his   pofieffions,  cut  off  his   genitals,  and  caufe 
him  to  be  carried  round  the  city,  mounted  on  an. 
afs.     If  by  fraud  he  commit  adultery  with  a  woman 
of  an  equal  or  inferior  call,  the  magistrate  mall  cake 
his    poiTeffions,    brand  him    in  the    forehead,    and 
banilh  him  the  kingdom.     Such  are  the  laws  of  the 
Shafter,  fo  far  as  they  regard  all  the  fuperior  calls, 
except  the  Bramins  ;  but  if  any  of  the  molt  inferior 
calls  commit  adultery  with  a  woman  of  the  cads 
greatly  fuperior,  he  is  not  only  to  be  difmembered, 
but  tied   to  a  hot  iron  plate,  and  burnt  to  death  ; 
whereas  the  higheft  caffs  may  commit  adultery  with 
the  very  lowefl,  for  the  moil  trifling  fine :  and  a 
Bramin,  or  prieft,  can  only  iuffer   by  feavrhg  the 
hair  of  his  head  cut  off;  and,  like  the  clergy  of 
Europe,  while  under  the  dominion  of  the  Pope,  he 
cannot  be  put  to  death  for  any  crime  whatever.     But 
the  laws,  of  which  he  is  always  the  interpreter,  are 
not  fo  favourable  to  his  wife;    they  inflict  a  fevere 
difgrace  upon  her,  if  fhe  commit  adultery  with  any 
of  the  higher  call;  but  if  with  the  lowed,  the  magis- 
trate fhall  cut  off  her  hair,  anoint  her  body  with 
Ghee,  and  caufe  her  to  be  carried  through  the  whole 
city,  naked,  and  riding  upon  an  afs;  andlHaH  caff 
her  out  on  the  north  fide  of  the  city,  or  caufe  her  to 
be  eaten  by  dogs.     If  a  woman  of  any  of  the  other . 
calls  soes  to  a  man,  and  entices  him  to  have  crimi- 
nal  correfpondence  with  her,  the  magiftrate  mail  ait 
off  her  ears,  lips  and  nofe,  mount  her  upon  an  i  i  , 
and  drown  her,  or  throw  her  to  the  dogs.     To  the 
commiflion  of  adultery  with  a  dancing-girl,  or  prof- 
titute,  no  punilhment  nor  fine  is  annexed. 

It  is  worth  remarking  here,  that  the  word  adul- 
tery,  which  among  all  other  nations  ,is  baderftood 
to  mean  an  illicit  correfpondence  between  married 


232  THE  HISTORY 

people,  among  the  Hindoos  is  extended  to  every 
fpecies  of  illicit  commerce  between  the  fexes ;  nor 
is  it  lefs  remarkable,  that  among  this  people,  the 
paflions  are  fo  warm  and  ungovernable,  that  every 
opportunity  of  committing  this  crime,  is  confidered 
as  an  actual  commiilion  of  it :  thus  they  have  three 
diflinft  fpecies  of  adultery  ;  the  firfb  is,  when  in  a 
place  where  there  are  no  other  men,  a  perfon  holds 
any  converfation  with  a  woman,  and  winks,  and 
gallantries  and  fmiles  pafs  on  both  fides  ;  or  the  man 
and  woman  hold  converfation  together  in  the  morn- 
ing, or  in  the  evening,  or  at  night,  or  the  man  dal- 
lies with  the  woman's  clothes ;  or  when  they  are 
together  in  the  garden,  or  an  unfrequented  place,  or 
bathe  together  in  the  fame  pool.  The  fecond  is, 
when  a  man  fends  fandal  wood,  or  a  firing  of  beads, 
or  victuals  and  drink,  or  clothes,  or  gold,  or  jew- 
els, to  a  woman.  The  third  is,  when  a  man  and 
woman  fleep  and  dally  upon  the  fame  carpet,  or  in 
fome  retired  place,  kifs  and  embrace,  and  play  with 
each  other's  hair  ;  or  when  the  man  carries  the  wo- 
man into  a  retired  place,  and  the  woman  fays  no- 
thing. Such  are  the  definitions  of  adultery  in  the 
laws  of  the  Hindoos ;  but  in  the  puniihments  annex- 
ed to  them,  it  appears  that  their  legislature  was  not 
.directed  fo  much  by  the  moral  turpitude  of  the  crime, 
as  by  the  dignity  of  the  feveral  csfts,  and  by  that 
revenge  which  fo  naturally  refults  from  jealoufy,  in 
a  climate  where  animal  love  is  the  predominant 
pailion. 

By  the  laws  of  Mofcs,  when  a  man  caught  a 
betrothed  virgin  in  the  field,  and  lay  with  her,  he 
only  was  put  to  death,  as  the  law  in  that  cafe  fup- 
pofed,  ihe  had  cried  and  there  was  none  to  help 
her  ;  but  in  the  city,  if  any  one  lay  with  a  betrothed 
virgin,  they  were  both  llontd;  for  then  the  law 


OF  WOMEN.  233 

fuppofed,  that  if  fhe  had  cried,  fhe  would  have  found 
affiftance  to  fave  her  from  the  ravifher  :  and  fo  great 
was  the  abhorrence  of  adultery  in  the  firft  ages,  that 
mofl  of  the  ancient  legiflators  prohibited  it  by  the 
fevered  penalties  ;  and  there  are  ftill  extant  icme 
Greek  copies  of  the  Decalogue,  where  this  prohi- 
bition is  placed  before  that  againft  murder,  Supposing 
it  to  be  the  greater  crime. 

In  the  heroic  ages,  while  revenge  was  almoft  the 
only  principle  that  actuated  the  Greeks,  adultery 
was  frequently  punifhed  by  murder.  In  the  Italian 
States,  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  though  they  have 
proper  laws  for  the  punimment  of  this  crime,  re- 
venge confiders  them  as  too  mild,  and  cruelly  watches 
an  opportunity  of  dabbing  the  offender.  In  no  cafe 
has  the  principle  of  revenge  operated  more  Strongly 
on  the  human  mind  than  puniihment  of  this  crime. 
When  the  Levite's  wife  was  defiled,  it  mitigated  the 
Israelites  to  take  arms,  and  almoft  deStroy  the  whole 
tribe  of  Benjamin,  becaufe  they  refufed  to  give  up 
the  adulterers.  ThyeStes  having  debauched  the  wife 
of  his  brother  Atreus,  Atreus  invited  him  to  afeaft, 
and  in  revenge  entertained  him  with  the  flefh  of  his 
own  fon.  Margaret  of  Burgundy,  Queen  to  Lewis 
Hutin,  king  of  France,  was  hanged  for  adultery  ; 
but  not  contented  with  the  death  of  her  gallants, 
they  were  ordered  to  be  flead  alive. 

So  greatly  does  a  man  reckon  himfelf  dishonoured 
and  affronted  by  the  infidelity  of  his  wife,  and  fo 
Strong  is  the  principle  of  revenge,  that  the  punifh- 
ment  of  female  adulterers  will  frequently  not  wait 
for  the  cool  and  dilatory  fentence  of  the  law,  which 
does  not  keep  pace  with  the  vengeance  which  the 
hufband  reckons  due  to  the  crime.  In  Some  places, 
the  execution  of  this  law  is  left  to  the  hufband.   The 


254  THE  HISTORY 

Novels  of  Juftinian  gave  a  hufband  a  right  to  kill 
any  perfon  whom  he  fufpected  of  abufing  his  bed, 
after  he  had  given  him  three  times  warning  in  writ- 
ing before  witneffes,  not  to  converfe  with  her. — 
Among  the  ancient  Swedes  and  Danes,  if  a  hufband 
caught  his  wife  in  the  act  of  adultery,  he  might  kill 
her,  and  caftrate  her  galhnt.  And  among  fome  of 
the  tribes  of  Tartars,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a 
hufband  to  deftroy  his  wife  even  upon  fufpicion. — 
Some  of  the  eaflern  chiefs,  on  fufpicion  of  the  infi- 
delity of  their  wives  and  concubines,  order  them  to 
be  buried  up  to  the  chin,  and  left  to  expire  in  the 
utmoft  agony.  The  Grand  Signior,  if  he  fufpects 
any  of  his  women,  orders  her  to  be  fewed  in  a  fack, 
and  thrown  into  the  next  river.  Among  the  anci- 
ent Germans,  the  hufband  had  a  power  of  inftantly 
inflicting  punifhment  on  his  adulterous  wife  ;  he  cut 
off  her  hair  in  the  prefence  of  her  relations,  drove 
her  naked  out  of  his  houfe,  and  whipped  her  out  of 
the  city.  In  the  kingdom  of  Benin,  the  hufband 
exercifes  a  fimilar  power.  Somewhat  lei's  fevere  is 
the  punifhment  of  an  adulterefs  in  feveral  other 
countries,  where  the  fenfe  of  honour  is  lefs  acute, 
and  the  injuries  done  to  it  lefs  ftimulating.  The 
Chinefe,  a  phlegmatic  kind  of  people,  fell  an  adul- 
terefs for  a  flave.  Their  neighbours  of  Laos  do  the 
fame.  And  in  old  times,  even  the  king  of  Wales 
thought  that  a  full  reparation  was  made  for  the  dis- 
honour of  defiling  his  bed,  by  obliging  the  offender 
to  pay  a  rod  of  pure  gold,  of  the  thicknefs  of  the 
finger  of  a  ploughman,  who  had  ploughed  nine 
years,  and  which  would  reach  from  the  ground  to 
the  king's  mouth  when  fitting. 

In  what  has  been  now  obferved,  we  fee  the  gi  ni- 
dation of  the  ideas  concerning  adultery.  Among 
fome  people  it  is  thought  a  crime  not  to  be  expiated 


OF  WOMEN.  235 

but  with  death ;  among  others  whipping  is  thought 
afufficient  punifhment;  fome  again  think  a  fine  fully 
compenfates  for  it;  while  in  fome  favage  countries, 
it  is  not  conlidered  as  having  the  fmallert  degree  of 
criminality.  In  Louifiana,  Pegu,  Siam,  Cambodia, 
and  Cochin-china,  it  is  even  looked  upon  as  an  honour; 
they  prefent  to  ftrangers  their  wives  and  daughters, 
and  think  it  a  difgrace  to  their  beauty  and  merit  if 
they  are  refufed. 

Where  the  punifhment  of  adultery  is  verted  in  the 
laws  of  the  country,  it  is  commonly  lefs  fevere,  than 
where  verted  in  the  hands  of  the  party  offended ; 
and  even  when  in  the  hands  of  the  offended,  it  is 
commonly  more  or  lefs  fevere  according  to  the  ideas 
entertained  of  women,  and  to  the  power  affumed 
over  them ;  where  it  is  veiled  in  the  hands  of  the 
women,  though  it  may  not  be  more  fevere  than 
when  in  thofe  of  their  hufbands,  yet  as  their  paffions 
and  jealoufies  are  rtronger,  they  are  apt  to  inflict  it 
where  the  certainty  of  the  guilt  is  not  fo  well  afcer- 
tained. 

Of  all  the  modes  which  have  been  adopted  for  the 
punifliment  of  adultery,  with  the  greateft  efficacy, 
and  at  the  fame  time  with  the  lead  feeming  feverity, 
we  give  the  preference  to  thefe  which  follow;  Ed- 
gar, kind  of  England  enacted,  that  an  adulterer  of 
either  fex  fhould,  for  the  fpace  of  feven  years,  live 
three  days  every  week  upon  bread  and  water ;  Ca- 
nute, in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  finding  that  die 
punifliment  then  in  ufe  of  cutting  off  the  nofe  and 
the  ears,  did  not  anfvver  the  purpofej  decreed,  that 
fuch  as  broke  their  conjugal  vow  fhould  be  condem- 
ned to  perpetual  celibacy.  A  fmilar  idea  for  the 
punifhment  of  the  fame  crime,  has  fnggerted  itfelfto 
the  Mufkohge  Americans,  a  people  noway  famous 


S36  THE  HISTORY 

for  ingenuity  in  legiflation;  they  oblige  the  adultrefs 
to  obferve  the  flricteil  continence  during  four  full 
moons  from  the  time  that  her  crime  was  difcovered. 
Perhaps  this  idea  of  a  mild  and  efficacious  puniihment 
was  more  perfectly  conceived  by  the  Greeks,  than 
any  of  the  foregoing  inftances;  in  fome  of  their 
dates,  a  woman  offending  in  this  manner,  was  never 
after  allowed  to  adorn  herfelf  with  fine  clothes,  and 
if  ihe  did,  any  one  might  tear  them  off,  and  beat 
her,  foas  not  to  deftroy  or  difable  her;  adultreffes 
were  fubject  to  the  fame  treatment  if  they  were  found 
in  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  their  husbands  were 
forbid  ever  to  cohabit  with  them  under  the  pain  of 
being  declared  infamous. 

We  might  eafily  infert  here,  a  variety  of  other 
methods  of  puniming  adulterers,  but  as  thefe  few 
convey  a  tolerable  idea  of  thefentimtnts  entertained 
of  this  crime  in  different  periods,  and  by  di^erent 
people,  «  e  {hall  proceed  to  obferve,  that  the  canon 
law,  following  rather  the  footfteps  of  Mofes  than  of 
Jefus,  always  condemned  adulterers  to  death  :  one 
of  the  canons  has  thefe  remarkable  words :  "  Let 
adulterer'  be  Honed,  that  they  may  ceafe  to  increafe, 
who  will  not  ceafe  to  be  defiled."  And  Pope  Six- 
tus  i^uintus,  not  content  with  the  death  of  adulter- 
ers themfelves,  ordained,  that  fuch  hufbands  as 
knew  their  wives  to  be  unfaithful,  and  did  not  com- 
plain  to  him,  fhould  be  put  to  death  alfo.  Amidfr. 
all  this  iteming  regard  for  conjugal  fidelity  and  fanc- 
tity  of  manners,  we  are  forry  to  obferve,  that  the 
clergy  of  the  middle  ages,  while  they  enacted  canons 
a  £araft,  and  punifhed  adultery  with  excommunica- 
tion, were  themfelves  a  kind  of  licenfed  adulterers  : 
debarred  from  marriage,  regardlefs  of  character,  and 
exempted  from  the  punifhments  inflicted  on  the 
laity,  their  debaucheries  were  often  carried  to  fuch 


OF  WOMEN.  257 

lengths  as  we  could  fcarcely    credit,  were  we  not 
allured  of  them  by  the  mod  authentic  records. 

Before  we  leave  the  iubjedi  of  adultery,  we  (hall 
juft  obferve,  that,  among  fome  nations,  there  were 
methods  devifed  for  fuch  women  as  were  accufed  of 
that  crime  to  clear  themfelves  ;  among  thefe  the 
waters  of  jealoufy  is  the  firil  we  meet  with.  In 
Sicily,  Japan,  and  on  the  coaft  of  Malabar,  the 
accufed  is  obliged  to  fwear  that  fhe  is  innocent;  the 
oath  is  taken  in  writing,  and  laid  on  water,  and  if 
it  does  not  fink,  the  woman  is  held  to  be  innocent. 
Thefe  and  fuch  like  are  the  ridiculous  exculpatory 
proofs  required  in  countries  overfpread  with  igno- 
rance and  fuperllition  ;  in  thefe  that  are  more  en- 
lightened, thofe  who  are  accufed  of  this  crime  can 
only  invalidate  the  evidence  brought  again  ft:  them  by 
the  teftimony  of  witneffes. 

In  the  primitive  ages,  before  laws  of  matrimony 
were  properly  understood  and  digefted,  and  before 
the  rights  of  women  were  fettled  upon  any  other 
bails  than  the  pleafure  of  their  parents  and  hufbands, 
the  felicity  of  divorcing  or  putting  away  a  wife,  was 
ahnoft:  equal  to  that  of  obtaining  her.  The  ancient 
Ifraelites  had  a  power  of  divorcing  their  wives  at 
pleafure.  "  When  a  man,"  fays  Mofes,  "  hath 
taken  a  wife  and  married  her,  and  it  come  to  pais 
that  {he  find  no  favour  in  his  eyes,  becaufe  he  hath 
found  in  her  fome  uncleannefs,  then  let  him  write 
her  a  bill  of  divorcement,  and  give  it  into  her  hand, 
and  fend  her  out  of  his  houfe."  This  vague  expref- 
fion  of  uncleannefs  gave  occafion  among  the  Jews  to 
the  mod  frequent  divorces,  even  upon  every  trifling 
occafion,  infomnch  that  one  of  their  rabbies  tells  us, 
it  was  lawful,  and  fometimes  pracfifed  by  a  huiband, 
if  a  wife  fpoiled  his  dinner  in  cooking  ;  and  by  ano- 

vol.  11.  II  h 


238  •  THE  HISTORY 

ther,  that  a  hufband  might  give  his  wife  a  bill  of  di- 
vorce, if  he  met  with  a  woman  who  pleafed  him  bet- 
rer,  or  looked  handfomer  in  his  eyes.  A  privilege 
which  gave  this  fickle  people  fuch  an  unlimited  right 
ot  getting  rid  of  their  wives  when  difagreeable. 
was  highly  valued,  and  reckoned  one  of  their  diftin- 
guifhing  prerogatives :  but  he  who  deflowered  a  vir- 
gin forfeited  it,  and  the  law  obliged  him,  in  com- 
penfation  for  that  injury,  not  only  to  pay  her  father 
fifty  flickers  of  filver,  but  to  marry  and  retain  her  for 
life.  Was  it  pofiible  to  devife  a  law  that  more 
(trongly  protected  female  chaftity  ? 

But  this  facility  of  obtaining  or  rather  of  giving,  a 
divorce,  was  not  peculiar  to  the  Jews;  itfeemstobe 
the  refult  of  the  nature  of  the  matrimonial  engage- 
ment ;  for  when  a  man  mult  purchafe  his  wife  as  he 
does  a  flave,  it  naturally  follows,  that  he  may  turn 
her  off  when  he  finds  that  fhe  does  not  anfwer  the 
purpofe  for  which  he  intended  her;  a  rule,  which 
will  be  found  to  obtain  pretty  univerfally  among  all 
nations.  The  negroes  purchafe  their  wives,  and 
turn  them  away  when  they  think  proper;  in  China 
and  Monoraatapa,  they  obferve  the  fame  cuftom ;  all 
the  ravages  of  South  America,  who  live  near  the 
Oroonoko,  purchafe  as  many  wives  as  they  can 
maintain,  and  divorce  them  at  pleafure;  and  even 
in  the  ifthmus  of  Darien,  and  on  the  banks  of  Hud- 
fon's  river,  they  purchafe  a  plurality  of  wives,  and 
difpofe  of  them  according  to  the  dictates  of  conveni- 
ency  and  inclination. 

In  fuch  places,  the  bargain  a  man  makes  for  his 
wife,  is  on  his  part  abfolute  and  unconditional;  but 
in  countries  where  the  natural  rights  of  women  are 
eftablifhed,  where  the  bargain  is  between  the  man 

I  his  wife,    is   conditional,    and  the  fortunes  of 


OF  WOMEN.     .  239 

both  are  joined  in  one  common  flock;  the  nature  of 
this  bargain  implies,  that  neither  of  them  are  privi- 
leged to  difmifs  the  other,  without  a  juft  caafe;  in 
many  parts  of  the  world,  this  caufe  has  been  con- 
itraed-to  be  a  mutual  diflike  of  the  parties,  and  a 
mutaal  confent  of  Reparation  ;  in  others,  barrennefs 
of  the  woman  is  thought  a  fufficient  caafe.  In  Eu- 
rope, no  caufe  has  been  deemed  valid,  unlefs  adulte- 
ry in  the  woman,  and  impotence  in  the  man.  Seve- 
ral of  the  primitive  councils  enjoined  a  hufband,  for 
the  falvation  of  his  foul,  and  on  pain  of  fpiritual  cen-. 
hire,  to  put  away  an  adulterous  wife,  which  was 
putting  into  the  hands  of  the  hufband  a  power  of 
divorce;  but  the  council  of  Trent  afterwards  decreed, 
that  the  marriage-bond  was  indiilblnble,  and  could 
not  be  broken  on  any  account :  notwithstanding 
tills,  the  Pope,  who  frequently  arrogated  to  himielf 
a  power  of  trampling  on  all  the  laws  of  heaven  and 
earth,  readily  enough  granted  divorces,  with  or 
without  caufe,  to  fuch  as  were  able  to  pay  for  them, 
either  in  money,  or  by  adding  to  the  power  and  ter- 
ritory of  the  church;  while  the  poor  plaintiff  could 
not  gain  a  hearing  at  the  chair  of  him  who  flyles 
himfelf,  fervant  of  fervants. 

Englifh  lawyers,  ever  fond  of  verbofity  and  end- 
lefs  diftinctions,  have  divided  divorces  into  two  dif- 
tinct  kinds;  the  firfl:,  when  the  party  is  divorced 
from  bed  and  board,  but  not  allowed  to  marry 
another;  thefecond,  when  he  or  ihe  is  divorced  or 
loofened  from  the  chains  of  matrimony,  and  al- 
lowed to  marry  again  at  pleafure:  but  neither  of 
thcfc  kind  of  divorces  can  be  obtained  by  any  other 
means  than  a  proof  of  adultery.  Milton,  and  fcvc- 
ral  other  writers  who  have  followed  him,  galled  by 
the  indhToluble  chain  which  they  thought  tliemfelves 
intitled  to  break,  have  endeavoured,  by  a  variety  of 


24»  THE  HISTORY 

arguments,  to  fticw,  that  equity,  natural  juflice, 
and  found  policy,  all  dictate,  that  the  matrimonial 
compact  ought  to  .  be  diffolved  from  a  variety  of 
other  caufes  befides  adultery.  The  legiflature  has, 
however,  hitherto  taken  no  notice  of  thefe  argu- 
ments ;  when  philofophy  and  reafon  have  ft  ill  far- 
ther enlightened  the  human  mind,  they  may  perhaps 
undergo  a  fcrutiny,  and  from  that  fcrutiny,  fome 
new  regulations  may  arife. 

In  rude  and  uncultivated  fiates  of  fociety,  wc 
have  feen  that  the  power  of  divorce  is  placed  in  the 
hufband ;  in  civil  fociety,  it  is  veiled  in  the  laws : 
but  in  fome  Mates  it  appears  to  have  been  occupied  by, 
and  in  others  formerly  veiled  in,  the  women.  Jo- 
fephus  tells  us,  that  Salmone,  filler  to  Herod  the 
Great,  was  the  firft  who  took  upon  her  to  repudi- 
ate her  hufband,  and  that  her  example  was  foon  fol- 
lowed by  many  others.  Among  the  Cherokees, 
the  women  are  faid  to  marry  as  many  huibands  as 
they  think  proper,  and  to  change  and  divorce  them 
at  pleafure;  a  cuflom,  which,  with  little  variation, 
we  have  already  feen  praclifed  by  the  women  of 
feveral  other  countries.  In  the  Wallian  laws  it  is 
decreed,  that  a  wife  may  leave  her  husband,  and 
demand  her  portion  again,  if  he  has  as  offenfive 
breath:  what  is  remarkably  whimfical,  the  fame 
laws  ordain,  that,  on  a  divorce,  the  woman  fhall 
divide  the  fubflance  into  two  equal  parts,  and  the 
man  fhall  have  choice  of  the  lots ;  but  in  particu- 
lar, the  man  fhall  have  all  the  fwine,  and  the  woman 
all  the  poultry. 


OF  WOMEN.  241 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 


The  fame  Subjecl  continued. 


T: 


HOUGH  we  have  feen,  in  the  courfe 
of  our  enquiry,  that  the  ideas  of  the  matrimonial 
compact,  and  of  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the  par- 
ties entering  into  it,  have  been  very  different  in  dif- 
ferent periods,  and  among  different  people  ;  yet,  as 
any  kind  of  regulation  of  the  commerce  between  the 
fexes  is  better  than  a  vague  and  undetermined  com- 
merce, every  well  regulated  ftate  has  folicitoufly 
endeavoured  either  to  promote  that  kind  of  matri- 
mony already  in  ufe,  or  to  rectify  its  errors,  and 
model  it  in  a  new  and  better  manner ;  and  fuch  is 
the  prevalence  of  nature,  that  though  the  powers 
and  privileges  of  a  hufband  are  fo  enormous,  it  is 
only  in  a  few  places  that  we  have  met  with  any 
backwardness  in  the  women  to  trufl  themfelves  in 
their  hands. 

By  the  ftory  of  Jephtha's  daughter,  we  are  in- 
formed, that  it  was  cuftomary  among  the  Jews,  for 
a  woman,  who,  on  account  of  a  vow  or  any  other 
reafon,  was  condemned  to  perpetual  celibacy,  to 
bewail  her  virginity  ;  the  reafon  afftgned  for  which, 
by  commentators,  is,  that  the  Jews  having  a  pro- 
mife  that  the  Meffiah  mould  be  born  of  one  of  their 
women,  every  woman  among  them  flattered  herfelf, 
that  (he  might  arrive  at  that  honour,  from  all  prof- 
peel:  of  which  {lie  was  entirely  cut  off,  if  fhe  died  a 
virgin.  But  the  Ifraelitim  damfels  were  not  the  only 
women  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  who  reckoned 


242  THE  HISTORY 

perpetual  virginity  a  misfortune.  The  ancient  Per- 
fians  were  of  opinion,  that  matrimony  was  fo  effen- 
tially  neceflary  to  man,  that  fuch  of  either  fex  as 
died  fmgle,  mull  infallibly  be  unhappy  in  the  next 
world.  This  opinion  gave  birth  to  the  mod  fmgular 
cuftom  we  meet  with  inhiftory;  when  any  one  died 
unmarried,  a  relation,  or,  in  default  of  fuch,  aper- 
fon  hired  for  the  purpofe,  was  folemnly  married  to 
the  deceafed,  as  foon  as  it  could  conveniently  be 
done  after  death,  as  the  only  recompence  now  left 
for  having  nedefted  it  in  life. 

The  Turks  of  this  prefent  period  at  Conftantino- 
ple,  reckoning,  perhaps,  the  firft  great  command, 
"  Increafe  and  multiply,"  the  moil  neceflary  of  all 
others,  entertain  the  fame  opinion  of  virginity, 
though  they  take  no  fuch  ridiculous  methods  of  en- 
deavouring to  obviate  the  effects  of  it  on  their  future 
happinefs.  "  Every  woman,  fay  they,  was  made 
to  have  as  many  children  as  lhe  can,  (he  therefore, 
who  dies  unmarried,  dies  in  a  ftate  of  reprobation." 
Virginity  was  likewife  reckoned  a  difgrace  by  the 
Greek  women  ;  Sophocles  makes  Eleclra  bewail 
bitterly  her  hard  fate  in  not  being  married  ;  and 
Polycrates,  tyrant  of  Samos,  being  angry  with  his 
daughter  for  difTuading  him  from  going  to  meet 
Orates,  governor  of  Sardis,  threatens  her,  that 
fhculd  he  return  in  fafety,  he  would  defer  giving  her 
in  marriage  for  a  long  time.  But  this  female  diflike 
to  living  fmgle,  has  not  been  peculiar  to  any  period 
or  people,  it  has  univerfally  prevailed  among  the 
fex.  In  many  nations,  laws  have  been  promulgated 
to  prompt  the  men  to  enter  into  matrimony,  to 
prompt  the  women  none  have  ever  been  needed. — 
"  Young  women,  fays  the  celebrated  Montefquieu, 
who  are  conducted  by  marriage  alone  to  liberty  and 
pleafure,  who  have  a  mind  which  dares  not  think,  a 


OFWOMEN.  245 

heart  which  dares  not  fee],  eyes  which  dare  not  fee, 
ears  which  dare  not  hear  ;  who  appear  only  to  fhew 
themielves  fiily ;  condemned  without  intermifiion  to 
trifles  and  precepts  ;  have  fufficient  inducements  to 
lead  them  on  to  marriage:  it  is  the  young  men  that 
want  to  be  encouraged." 

A  variety  of  encouragements  have  accordingly 
been  offered  by  the  wifeft  legiflators  to  tempt  young 
men  into  matrimony ;  but  not  content  with  thefe, 
difagreeabie  circumftances,  and  even  punifhments, 
have  been  alfo  annexed  to  the  (late  of  a  batchelor. 
The  Lacedemonians  were  not  only  fevere  againft 
thofe  who  abftained  from,  but  alfo  always  againft 
thofe  who  deferred,  entering  into  the  conjugal  ftate  : 
no  man  among  them'  could  live  fingle  beyond  the 
time  appointed  by  the  laws  of  his  country,  without 
incurring  feveral  penalties,  the  firft  of-  which  was, 
old  batchelors  were  obliged  once  every  w'inter  to 
run  naked  round  the  ;  market  place,  finging  a  fong 
which  pointed  out  their  crime,  and  expofed  them  to 
ridicule.  They  were  excluded  from  the  games 
where  the  Spartan  virgins,  according  to  the  cuftom 
of  their  country,  danced  naked.  And,  on  a  certain 
folemnity,  the  women,  in  revenge  for  the. contempt 
which  was  fhewn  them,  were  allowed  to  drag  thefe 
defpifers  of  matrimony  round  an  altar,  beating  them 
all  the  time  with  their  fills  :  and  laftly,  they  were 
deprived  of  all  that  honour  and  refpeft  which  the 
young  men  of  Greece  were  obliged  to  pay  to  their 
feniors.  One  of  their  old  captains'  coming  into  an 
affembly,  when  he  expected  that  a  young  man  by 
whom  he  ftood  would  have  rifen  to  give  him  his  feat, 
received  this  rebuke  from  him  :  "  Sir,  yousmuft  not 
expect  that  honour  from  me,  being  young,  which 
cannot  be  returned  to  me  by  a  child  of  yours  when  I 
am  old." 


244  THE  HISTORY 

The  Jews  were  of  opinion,  that  marriage  was  an 
indifpenfible  duty  implied  in  the  words  "  Increafe 
and  multiply  ;"  a  man,  therefore,  who  did  not 
marry  at  or  before  the  age  of  twenty,  was  confider- 
ed  as  acceffary  to  every  irregularity  which  the  young 
women  for  want  of  hufbands  might  be  tempted  to 
commit;  and  hence  there  is  a  proverb  in  the  Talmud  : 
"  Who  is  he  that  proftitutes  his  daughter,  but  he 
who  keeps  her  too  long  unmarried,  or  gives  her  to 
an  old  man."  Among  the  ancient  Perfians,  though 
there  was  no  pofitive  law  for  the  encouragement  of 
matrimony,  yet  their  kings  frequently  propofed  an- 
nual prizes  as  a  reward  to  thofe  who  were  fathers  of 
thegreateft  number  of  children. 

While  the  Romans  retained  their  primitive  fim- 
plicity  and  integrity,  no  laws  were  requifite  to  en- 
courage their  young  men  to  matrimony ;  when  they 
became  debauched  with  the  love  of  pleafure,  and 
expenfive  in  the  purfuit  of  it ;  when  their  wives  re- 
quired immenfe  fums  to  uphold  their  extravagance, 
and  their  children  fcarcely  lefs  to  give  them  a  pro- 
per education,  neither  threatenings  nor  encourage- 
ments conld  fometimes  prevail  on  them  to  enter  into 
that  ftate.  In  no  country  was  there  ever  a  legifla- 
ture  more  forward  in  attempting  to  encourage  ma- 
trimony, in  none  were  the  fubj efts  ever  lefs  forward 
in  feconding  thefe  attempts. 

As  foon  as  luxury  and  expence  had  begun  to 
frighten,  and  licentious  pleafures  to  decoy  the  Ro- 
man citizens  from  marriage,  to  counterbalance  thefe, 
it  was  thought  neceffary  to  deny  fuch  men  as  had 
not  entered  into  that  alliance  the  privilege  of  giving 
evidence  in  courts  of  juftice;  and  the  firft  question 
afked  by  the  judge  was,  Upon  your  faith,  have  you 
a  wife,    whereby  you  may   have  children  ?    If  he 


OF  WOMEN.  24^ 

anfwered  in  the  negative,  his  evidence  was  refufed. 
And  fo  intent  were  the  Roman  confuls  at  one  time 
upon  multiplying  their  citizens,  that  they  extorted 
from  all  the  men  an  oath,  that  they  would  not  marry 
with  any  other  view  than  that  of  increafing  the 
fubjefts  of  the  republic,  and  that  whoever  had  a 
barren  wife  mould  put  her  away  and  marry  another. 
But  the  men,  who  had  other  opportunities  of  fatis- 
fying  their  appetites  than  that  of  marriage,  conti- 
nued flill  fond  of  celibacy,  which  obliged  the  cenfors, 
upon  finding  that  population  was  decreafing,  to 
extort  another  oath  from  them,  that  they  would 
marry  with  all  convenient  fpeed. 

As  it  commonly  happens  that  oaths  extorted  by 
compulfion  are  but  ill  obferved,  unlefs  the  fame  com- 
pulfatory  power  alfo  enforces  obedience  to  them, 
thofe  impofed  upon  the  Romans  had  but  little  effect ; 
to  remedy  which,  new  honours  were  heaped  upon 
the  married,  and  fines  and  punimments  were  laid 
upon  the  batchelors.  It  was  ordained,  That  fuch 
of  the  plebeians  as  had  wives,  fhould  have  a  more 
honourable  place  in  the  theatres  than  fuch  as  had 
none :  that  the  married  magiftrates  and  patricians 
fhould  have  the  precedency  of  fuch  of  the  fame  rank 
as  were  unmarried ;  that  the  fines  which  had  been 
firft  levied  by  Camillus  and  Poithumus  upon  batche- 
lors, fliould  be  a^ain  exacted. 

When  Caefar  had  fubdued  all  his  competitors,  and 
mod  of  the  foreign  nations  which  made  war  againlt. 
him,  he  found  that  fo  many  Romans  had  been 
deflroyed  in  the  quarrels  in  which  he  had  often 
engaged  them,  that,  to  repair  the  lofs,  promifed 
rewards  to  fathers  of  families,  and  forbade  all  Ro- 
mans who  were  above  twenty,  and  under  fcriv 
years  of  age,  to  go  out  of  their  native  country. 

vol.  11.  I  i 


246  THE  HISTORY 

Auguftus,  his  fucceftbr,  to  check  the  debauchery  of 
the  Roman  youth,  laid  heavy  taxes  upon  fuch  as 
continued  unmarried  after  a  certain  age,  and  encou- 
raged with  great  rewards  the  procreation  of  lawful 
children.  Some  years  afterwards,  the  Roman 
knights  having  preffingly  petitioned  him  that  he 
would  relax  the  feverity  of  that  law,  he  ordered 
their  whole  body  to  affemble  before  him,  and  the 
married  and  unmarried  to  arrange  themfelves  in  two 
feparate  parties,  when,  obferving  the  unmarried  to 
be  the  much  greater  company,  he  firft  addreffed  thofe 
who  had  complied  with  his  law,  telling  them,  That 
they  alone  had  ferved  the  purpofes  of  nature  and 
fociety  ;  that  the  human  race  was  created  male  and 
female  to  prevent  the  extinction  of  the  fpecies  ;  and 
that  marriage  was  contrived  as  the  mod:  proper  me- 
thod of  renewing  the  children  of  that  fpecies.  He 
added,  that  they  alone  deferved  the  name  of  men 
and  fathers,  and  that  he  would  prefer  them  to  fuch 
offices  as  they  might  tranfmit  to  their  pofterity. 
Then  turning  to  the  batchelors,  he  told  them,  That 
he  knew  not  by  what  name  to  call  them  ;  not  by 
that  of  men,  for  they  had  done  nothing  that  was 
manly  ;  not  by  that  of  citizens,  fince  the  city  might 
perifh  for  them  ;  nor  by  that  of  Romans,  for  they 
feemed  determined  to  let  the  race  and  name  become 
extinct;  but  by  whatever  name  he  called  them,  their 
crime,  he  faid,  equalled  all  other  crimes  put  toge- 
ther, for  they  were  guilty  of  murder,  in  not  fufier- 
ing  thofe  to  be  born  who  mould  proceed  from  them ; 
of  impiety,  in  abolifhing  the  names  and  honours  of 
their  fathers  and  anceftors ;  of  facrilege,  in  deltroy- 
ing  their  fpecies,  and  human  nature,  which  owed  its 
original  to  the  gods,  and  was  confecrated  to  them  ; 
that  by  leading  a  fingle  life  they  overturned,  as  far 
as  in  them  lay,  the  temples  and  altars  of  the  gods  ; 
diflolved  the  government,  by   difobeying  its   lav,  s ; 


OF  WOMEN.  20 

betrayed  their  country,  by  making  it  barren.  Hav- 
ing ended  his  fpeech,  he  doubled  the  rewards  and 
privileges  of  fuch  as  had  children,  and  laid  a  heavy 
fine  on  all  unmarried  perfons,  by  reviving  the  Po- 
pcean  law. 

Though  by  this  law  all  the  males  above  a  certain 
age  were  obliged  to  marry  under  a  fevere  penality, 
Auguftus  allowed  them  the  fpace  of  a  full  year  to 
comply  with  its  demands ;  but  fuch  was  the  back- 
wardnefs  to  matrimony,  and  perverfity  of  the  Ro- 
man knights,  and  others,  that  every  poffible  method 
was  taken  to  evade  the  penalty  inflicted  upon  them, 
and  fome  of  them  even  married  children  in  the  cra- 
dle for  th3t  purpofe';  thus  fulfilling  the  letter,  they 
avoided  the  fpirit  of  the  law,  and  though  actually 
married,  had  no  reftraint  upon  their  licentioufnefs, 
nor  any  incumbrance  by  the  expence  of  a  family. 

Such  were  the  methods  the  Romans  were  obli- 
ged to  make  ufe  of,  in  order  to  prevent  matrimony 
from  falling  almoft  into  dilufe.  In  fucceeding  peri- 
ods, fcarcely  any  thing  compulfatory  has  been 
attempted.  It  has  been  generally  thought  fufficient 
to  ftain,  with  fome  degree  of  infamy  and  difhcnour, 
all  kinds  of  illicit  connection  between  the  fcxes,  to 
make  the  way  to  the  enjoyment  of  lawful  love  as 
eafy  and  accellible  as  poffible,  and  to  trull  the  reft  to 
nature.  In  this  laft  refpect,  the  Englilh  legiflature 
feems  of  late  to  have  acted  contrary  to  the  common 
maxim,  and  thrown  a  variety  of  obftacles  in  the  way 
of  matrimony;  but  fhould  decreafe  of  people  be 
the  confequeftce,  that  body,  it  is  prefumable,  are 
too  wife  to  perfift  in  a  voluntary  error. 

As  every  regulation  of  the  commerce  between  the 
fexes  feeras  plainly  to  tend  towards  the  falutary  pur- 


24*  THE  HISTORY 

pofe  of  population  and  continuance  of  the  fpecies,  fo 
every  v/ife  legiilature,  not  folely  contented  with  en- 
couraging or  even  enforcing  matrimony,  has  like- 
wife  endeavoured  to  corre£l  all  thofe  errors  and  abu- 
fes  which  fruflrated  the  main  intention  of  it,  and  to 
oblige  the  fexes  to  join  themfelves  together  in  fuch 
a  manner  as  might  tend  to  the  increafe  and  multipli- 
cation of  their  fpecies ;  thus  the  Jewifh  laws  forbade 
eunuchs  to  marry.  Lycurgus  enjoined  the  coupling 
together  of  fuch  men  and  women  as  were  flrong  and 
healthful,  and  gave  a  liberty  of  profecuting  fuch 
men  as  did  not  marry  at  all,  as  deferred  marrying 
till  they  were  too  old,  or  married  improperly;  and 
thus  in  Rome,  it  was  ordained,  That  no  woman 
under  fifty  might  marry  a  man  above  fixty,  and 
that  no  man  above  fixty  ihould  marry  a  woman  who 
was  not,  like  himfelf,  far  advanced  in  life  ;  laws  of 
this  nature,  though  evidently  tending  to  promote 
the  great  end  and  defign  of  marriage,  have  in  fub- 
fequent  periods  been  but  little  attended  to. 

If  what  has  been  advanced  by  naturalifh  be  true, 
that  croffing  the  breed,  either  of  animals  or  vegeta- 
bles, tends  greatly  to  improve  their  flrength  and 
vigour ;  then  it  will  follow,  that  fuch  political  rea- 
fons,  as  regard  flrength  and  population,  have  like- 
wife  prompted  all  wife  legiflators  to  interdict  the 
marriages  of  near  kindred.  Among  the  Jews,  the 
degrees  of  confanguinity,  within  which  it  was  unlaw- 
ful to  marry,  were  accurately  marked  by  the  code 
of  Mofes.  Among  other  ancient  nations,  the  affair 
was  fubje£l  to  much  variation.  The  Egyptians  were 
allowed  to  marry  their  fillers.  The  Scythians  were 
even  faid  to  have  married  their  mothers,  grandmo- 
thers, and  fillers.  The  Medes  and  Perfians  marri- 
ed their  fillers;  and,  among  the  Tartars,  a  man 
might  marry  his  daughter,  but  a  mother  might  not 


OF  WOMEN.  249 

marry  her  fon.  Among  the  Hunns,  the  men  mar- 
ried whoever  they  pleafed,  without  the  lead:  regard 
to  confanguin.ity;  a  fon  even  married  the  widow  of 
his  father :  fomething  of  the  fame  nature  feems  to 
have  been  practifed  by  the  kings  of  Ifrael ;  for  Abfa- 
lom  is  faid  to  have  gone  in  unto  the  wives  and  con- 
cubines of  David,  his  father,  when  he  rebelled 
againft  him.  In  Peru,  the  Inca,  or  king,  was 
always  married  to  his  lifter;  or,  if  he  had  no  lifters, 
to  his  neareft  fema!e  relation:  and,  in  Otaheite,  we 
are  told,  that  their  young  king  was  defigned  as  a 
hufband  to  his  fifter,  when  he  became  marriageable. 
At  Athens,  a  man  might  marry  the  fifter  of  his 
father,  but  not  the  fifter  of  his  mother. 

The  natural  advantages  arifmg  from  crofting  the 
breed  of  men,  as  well  as  other  animals,  in  order  to 
preferve  the  fpecies  from  degenerating,  muft  have 
been  the  refult  of  experience  and  cbfervation;  it 
would  therefore  be  long  before  they  were  attended 
to  ;  and  hence,  though  Mofes,  who  was  infpired  by 
the  Divinity,  appears  to  have  been  acquainted  with 
them,  the  other  nations,  whom  we  have  mentioned, 
were  not;  and,  confequently,  long  indulged  them- 
felves  in  marrying,  as  inclination,  or  convenience, 
dictated.  But  another  political  reafon  may  be  given, 
why  the  marriage  of  near  kindred  was  prohibited. 
Before  mankind  were  thoroughly  civilized,  and 
brought  under  the  government  of  laws,  families 
were  frequently  at  war  with  one  another;  either  on 
account  of  property,  which  was  then  unfettled,  or 
from  their  natural  inclination  to  rapine  and  plunder; 
in  this  ftate  every  acquilition  of  ftrength  to  a  family, 
Was  an  addition  of  its  fecurity ;  inftead,  therefore, 
of  marrying  in  his  own  family,  or  among  his  own 
kindred,  who  were  already  in  his  intereft,  a  man 
would,  from  motives  of  policy.,  rather  wifti  to  take 


tS&  THE  HISTORY 

a  wife  from  a  neighbouring  family,  and  by  that 
means  brine;  it  into  an  alliance  with  his,  a  circum- 
itance  which  would  tend  greatly  to  the  fecurity  of 
both;  and  hence  the  practice  of  marrying  of  kindred 
would  fall  into  difufe. 

But  befides  thefe,  and  other  political  reafons  that 
might  be   given  againfl  near  kindred  and  relations 
intermarrying  with  each  other,  there  are  alfo  natu- 
ral reafons   that   ftrongly  counteract  fuch  alliances. 
The  marriage  of  a  father  with  his  daughter  would, 
in  molt    cafes,    be   prepofterous ;    as   the   hufband 
would  generally  be  pad  the  age  of  propagation  long- 
before  his  wife.     The  marriage  of  a  fon  to  his  mo- 
ther, befides  being  liable  to  the  fame  objection  of 
inequality  of  age,  would  likewife  confound  the  na- 
ture of  things ;  as  the  fon  ought  to  have  an  unlimi- 
ted refpect  for  his  mother,  and  the  wife  an  unlimited 
refpect  for  her  hufband.     But  though  fimilar  reafons 
do  not  militate  againfl  the  marriage  of  brothers  and 
lifters  with  each  other,  yet  nature  herfelf  feems  here 
to  have  interpofed  her  authority;    flic  feems  not  to 
have  given  to  brothers  and  fillers,  the  lame  power  of 
railing  the  paillons  and  emotions  of  love  in  each  other, 
as  fhe  has  given   to  thofe  who  are  lefs  known,  and 
nowife  related.     The  emotions,  which  pafs  between 
a  brother  and  a  fifter,    are  friendfhip;   in   the  fame 
circumftances,  between  a  young  man  and  woman, 
not  related  to  each  other,  they  would  be  love. 

With  refpect  to  the  prohibitions,  concerning  the 
marriage  of  relations  to  each  other,  it  is  a  thing  ex- 
tremely delicate  to  fix  exactly  the  point  at  which  the 
laws  of  nature  ftop,  The  greater  part  of  civilized  na- 
tious  feem,  in  this  refpect,  not  to  have  differed 
widely  from  the  directions  of  Mofes.  the  Chriftian 
world  had  been  entirely  governed  by  the  rules  of 


OF  WOMEN.  2jx 

that  lawgiver,  except  in  fome  periods,  when  a  fpi- 
rit  of  greater  fan£fity  extended  it  flill  wider.  In  a 
council,  held  by  pope  Honori us,  in  the  year  1126. 
marriages  were  profcribed  between  all  relations,  till 
after  the  feventh  generation ;  and  all  who  had  mar- 
ried within  that  degree,  were  ordered  to  put  their 
wives  away :  luch  were  the  laws  the  lee  of  Rome 
impofed  upon  mankind ;  but  as,  in  other  cafes,  it 
referved  to  itfelf  a  power  of  difpenfmg  with  them ; 
and,  like  the  Engiifh,  who  will  not  allow  any  body 
toabufe  their  kings  but  themfelves,  the  popes  would 
not  fufier  any  but  themfelves  to  infringe  the  laws 
of  the  pentateuch  or  of  the  gofpel. 

But  befides  the  reftrictions  laid  upon  marriage,  bv 
confanguity  and  politics,  there  are  others  affecting 
certain  claffes  of  mankind,  which  feem  to  have  ari- 
fen  folely  from  opinion  or  caprice.  Such  are  thofe 
which  cuftom  has  impofed  almoft  every  where,  on 
people  of  the  fame  religion,  and  of  the  fame  rank 
and  condition  of  life,  reftrifting  them  from  marrying 
thofe  of  a  different  religion,*  or  of  an  inferior  con- 
dition ;  fuch  are  thofe  that  the  laws  of  Brama  have 
impofed  on  the  Hindoos,  whereby  both  the  men  and 
women,  of  every  particular  call,  are  prohibited  from 
marrying  into  any  other  cad ;  but  what  we  have 
more  particularly  in  view,  is  the  reftrictions  which, 
in  this  particular,  have  been  laid  upon  the  clergy  of 
a  variety  of  nations.  While  the  Ifraelitifh  laity  were 
at  liberty  to  marry  whom  they  pleafed,  the  priefls 
were  prohibited  from  marrying  a  woman  that  was  a 
whore,  or  that  had  been  put  away  from  her  huf- 
band:  or,  in  fhort,  any  other  but  a  virgin.  The 
Egyptians,  though  they  indulged  their  laity  in  polv- 

*  By  the  ancient  law,  a  Chriftian,  of  eith'er  fex,  marrying 
with  a  Jew,  was  to  be  burnt  or  buried  aiive ;  and  at  Geneva,  a 
marriage  between  a  Proieftant  and  a  Roman  Catholic,  is  no: 
valid. 


252  THE  HISTORY 

gamy,  would  not  grant  the  fame  liberty  to  their 
priefts.  After  the  introduction  of  the  Chriflian  reli- 
gion, the  clergy  were  in  marriage  reftri&ed  by 
almoft  the  fame  laws  as  thofe  of  Mofes;  and  if  the 
wife  of  a  clergyman,  particularly  of  a  bifhop,  died 
before  him,  he  was  never  allowed  to  take  another. 
In  procefs  of  time  it  became  unlawful,  according  to 
the  canons  of  the  church,  for  a  clergyman  to  marry 
upon  any  pretence  whatever;  a  fcheme  which,  as 
we  fhall  fee  afterward,  was  the  fource  of  much 
wrangling  among  the  priefts,  and  of  much  mifchief 
to  fociety. 

Though,  by  the  Mofaic  law,  the  whole  body  of 
the  Ifraelites  were  ftrictly  prohibited  from  intermar- 
rying with  other  nations  ;  yet,  in  the  twenty-firft 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  we  find  an  allowance  given 
them  to  make  wives  of  the  captives  taken  in  war  ; 
and  the  preparation  of  thefe  captives,  to  fit  them  for 
fo  near  an  alliance  with  their  captors,  was  fuch  as 
would  not  a  little  difguft  a  modern  lover  :  the  bride 
was  to  be  brought  to  the  houfe  of  her  future  huf- 
band,  and  there  to  (have  her  head ;  a  circumftance 
of  the  mod  mortifying  nature  to  a  woman,  as  the 
loves  and  the  graces  wanton  in  waving  ringlets ;  be- 
fides  this,  fhe  was  to  put  the  raiment  of  captivity 
upon  her,  and  to  wear  it  a  month,  and  comply  with 
fome  other  ceremonies  ;  of  the  intention  of  which, 
we  are,  at  this  period,  entirely  ignorant. 

We  return  now  to  take  a  further  view  of  the 
ceremonies  of  marriage,  and  to  trace  theprogrefs  of 
that  inftitution,  from  the  ancient  Greeks,  where  we 
left  it,  to  the  prefent  times. 

There  were  three  different  kinds  of  marriage 
among  the  Romans,  diftinguifhed  from  each  other 


OF  WOMEN.  253 

by  the  names  of  Conferration,  Coemption,  and  Ufe ; 
Conferration  was  the  manner  in  which  only  the  pon- 
tiffs and  other  priefts  were  married,  and  was  always 
celebrated  by  a  pried: ;  and  we  call  the  attention  of 
our  readers  to  this  remarkable  circumftance,  that,  in 
the  marriages  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  we  difcover 
the  firft  inftance  of  priefts  having  celebrated  the  rites 
of  that  inftitution.  The  ceremony  confifted  in  the 
young  couple  eating  a  cake  together,  made  only  of 
wheat,  fait,  and  water  ;  part  of  which,  along  with 
other  facrifices,  were,  in  a  folemn  manner,  offered 
to  the  gods  of  marriage. 

The  fecond  kind  of  marriage,  called  Coemption, 
was  celebrated  by  the  parties  folemnly  pledging  their 
faith  to  each  other,  by  giving  and  receiving  a  piece 
of  money  ;  a  ceremony  which  was  the  mod  common 
way  of  marrying  among  the  Romans,  and  which 
continued  in  ufe  even  after  they  became  Ghriftiaiis* 
When  writings  were  introduced  to  teflify  that  a  man 
and  woman  had  become  hufband  and  wife,  and  alio, 
that  the  hufoand  had  fettled  a  dower  upon  his  bride, 
thefe  writings  were  called  Tabulae  Dotales,  dowry 
tables  ;  and  hence,  perhaps,  the  words  in  our  mar- 
riage ceremony,  I  thee  endow. 

The  third  kind  of  marriage,  denominated  Ufe. 
was,  when  the  accidental  living  together  o^t  a  man 
and  woman  had  been  productive  of  children,  and 
they  found  it  neceflary,  or  convenient,  on  that,  and 
other  accounts,  to  continue  together;  when,  ifthev 
agreed  on  the  matter  between  themfelves,  it  became 
a  valid  marriage,  and  the  children  were  confidered  as 
legitimate.  Something  fimilar  to  this,  is  the  prefent 
cuftom  in  Scotland;  where,  if  a  man  and  woman 
have  lived  together  till  they  have  children,  if  the  man 
marry  the  woman,  even  upon  his  death-bed,  all  the 

VOL.  IT,  K  k 


254  THE  HISTORY 

antinuptial  children  become  thereby  legitimated, 
and  inherit  the  honours  and  eftates  of  their  father. 
The  cafe  is  the  fame  in  Holland;  with  this  difference 
only,  that  all  the  children  to  be  legitimated  muft 
appear  with  the  father  and  mother  in  church,  at  the 
ceremony  of  their  marriage. 

When  a  marriage  was  celebrated,  in  any  of  the 
two  firft.  methods,  in  order  to  know  the  pleafure  of 
the  gods,  the  aufpices  were  firft  of  all  confuked,  and 
the  days  which  they  held  unfortunate  avoided. — 
When  the  contract  was  drawn  up,  it  was  fealed  with 
the  feals  of  the  parents,  and  the  portion  fometimes 
depolited  with  the  augur;  the  bridegroom  fent  to  the 
bride  a  plain  iron  ring.  On  the  wedding-day,  while 
the  bride's  head  was  dreffing,  it  was  cuftomary  to 
divide  her  hair  into  fix  trefTes,  with  the  point  of  a 
fpear,  after  the  manner  of  the  veftals ;  to  teach  her 
that  fhe  was  to  be  a  veflal  to  all  but  her  hufband. 
She  was  then  crowned  with  a  wreath  of  vervain, 
and  other  herbs,  gathered  by  her  own  hands;  over 
the  wreath  they  fometimes  threw  a  veil;  and  put  on 
her  feet  a  pair  of  fhoes,  of  the  fame  colour  as  the 
veil,  and  fo  high  as  to  make  her  appear  taller.  In 
ancient  Rome,  when  the  couple  were  ready  for  the 
ceremony,  they  put  a  yoke  upon  their  necks,  called 
Conjugium ;  and  hence  our  word  conjugal,  or  yoked 
together,  is  derived  :  a  ceremony  which  is  more  em- 
blematical of  the  matrimonial  ftate,  than  any  we 
have  hitherto  met  with.  That  the  bride  might  feem 
reluctantly  to  part  with  her  virgin  Hate,  they  feign- 
ed to  force  her  from  the  arms  of  her  mother;  which 
was  done  by  the  light  of  five  torches  carried  by  five 
boys,  previoufly  warned  and  perfumed,  in  honour 
of  the  five  divinities  of  marriage,  Jupiter,  Juno, 
Venus,  Diana,  and  the  goddefs  Perfuafion.  The 
bride  was  led  by  two  young  children  to  the  houfe  of 


OF  WOMEN.  255 

her  hufband;  a  diftaff  was  carried  behind  her,  with 
a  fpindle,  and  a  trunk  or  baiket,  in  which  was  her 
toilette;  {he  was  fprinkled  with  luilral  water,  in 
order  that  (he  might  enter  holy  into  the  houfe  of 
her  hufband ;  when  fhe  arrived  at  the  door,  which 
was  adorned  with  garlands  of  flowers  and  evergree ns, 
fire  and  water  were  prefented  to  her,  and  me  war. 
at  the  fame  time  afked  her  name;  to  which  me  an- 
fwered,  Caia,  to  fignify  that  lire  would  be  as  good  a 
wife  as  Caia  Ccecilia,  who  was  famous  for  the  domes- 
tic and  conjugal  virtues. 

Before  the  bride  entered  the  houfe,  flie  put  wool 
upon  the  door,  and  rubbed  it  with  oil,  crwv.h  the 
fat  of  fome  animal ;  (lie  was  then  carried  pyer  the 
threfhold,  which  the  augurs  reckoned  exceedin  v!y 
unlucky  for  her  to  touch,  on  heriirit  entrance:  im- 
mediately after,  the  keys  of  all  things  in  the  houfe 
were  delivered  to  her,  and  me  was  fet  upon  a  (heep-'s 
fkin  with  the  wool  on  it,  to  teach  her,  that  (he  was 
from  that  to  provide  clothes  for  her  family.  After 
the  young  couple  werecon  ducted  to  their  chamber, 
immediately  before  the  company  took  their  leave  of 
them,  the  bridegroom  fcattered  nuts  to  the  children, 
and  the  men  fung  verfes,  to  obviate  charms  and 
incantations.  Care  was  taken  that  there  Ihould  be 
no  light  in  the  nuptial  chamber,  to  fpare  the  mcdefty 
of  the  bride,  and  prevent  the  bridegroom  from  dif- 
covering  her  blemiihes:  on  the  next  day,  the  hul- 
band  gave  a  public  entertainment,  when  the  bride, 
appearing  on  the  fame  couch  with  him  at  table,  lean- 
ed upon  him  with  an  air  of  familiarity,  and  in  her 
difcourfe  feemed  to  glory  fo  much  in  having  thrown 
oft  her  virgin  modefty,  that  it  became  a  proverb  in 
Rome,  when  a  woman  talked  indecently,  to  fay,  the 
talks  like  a  bride. 


256  THE  HISTORY 

Such  were  the  ceremonies  by  which  a  hufband 
and  wife  were  joined  together,  and  fuch  the  addi- 
tional ceremonies  that  ferved  to  give  folemnity  to 
their  junction.  In  the  early  periods  of  Rome,  Ro- 
mulus ordered,  that  no  woman  mould  pretend  to 
direct  her  hufband,  but  that  a  hufband  might  dis- 
card his  wife,  if  fhe  poifoned  the  children,  counter- 
feited the  keys,  or  committed  adultery:  after-periods 
gave  him  a  power  to  inflict  a  fui  table  punimment 
upon  her,  if  me  acted  perverfely,  difhoneftly,  or 
drank  wine ;  and  even  to  kill  her,  if  he  furprifed  her 
in  infidelity  to  his  bed.  But  all  the  privileges  were 
not  on  the  fide  of  the  hufband ;  fome  of  a  very  extra- 
ordinary nature  belonged  to  the  wives,  or  rather  to 
the  widows,  of  Romans.  Children  born  ten  months 
after  the  death  of  the  hufband  were  reckoned  legiti- 
mate; and  Hadrian,  thinking  this  period  too  fhort, 
extended  it  to  eleven. 

Among  the  northern  nations  who  were  contempo- 
rary with  the  Romans,  and  who  afterwards  overtur- 
ned their  empire,  a  furprifmg  fimilarity  of  manners 
was  every  where  obfervable.  Wherever  fighting 
was  concerned,  they  were  univerfally  diftinguifhed 
by  a  brutal  ferocity  almoft  inconceivable;  while,  in 
regard  to  the  fair  fex,  they  carried  their  politenefs 
in  many  particulars  to  a  degree  hardly  known  even 
among  the  molt  civilized  nations.  From  the  remo- 
tefh  antiquity,  they  confined  themfelves  to  one  wife, 
to  whom  they  were  married  in  a  manner  more  folemn 
than  we  commonly  meet  with  among  a  people  fo 
rude  and  uncultivated.  The  father,  or  guardian, 
gave  away  his  daughter  in  words  to  this  effect:  '  I 
'  give  thee  my  daughter  in  honourable  wedlock,  to 
4  have  the  half  of  thy  bed,  the  keeping  of  the  keys 

*  of  thy  houfe,  one-third  of  the  money  thou  art  at 

•  prefent  polfeffed  of  or  malt  poilefs  hereafter,  and 


OF  WOMEN.  257 

6  to  enjoy  the  other  rights  appointed  to  wives  by 
4  law/  The  hufband  then  made  his  bride  a  prefent, 
by  way  of  dowry :  the  relations  of  both  parties  were 
witneftes  of  what  he  gave;  which  were  not  things 
adapted  to  flatter  the  vanity,  or  adorn  the  perfon 
of  the  bride,  but  commonly  confided  of  fome  oxen, 
a  bridled  node,  or  a  fhield,  fpear,  or  fword;  in 
return  for  which,  the  bride,  too,  made  her  hufband 
a  prefent  of  fome  arms;  and  the  mutual  interchange 
of  thefe  prefents  they  efteemed  the  moil  indiflfoluble 
tie,  as  they  were  given  and  received  before  witneffes 
the  mod  nearly  connected  with  them,  and  before 
the  connubial  gods. 

As  modes  and  cuftoms  are  perpetually  changing 
with  the  times  and  circumftances,  this  iimple  cere- 
mony among  the  defendants  of  thefe  people  became 
more  complicated ;  the  bridegroom  fent  all  his 
friends  and  relations  to  the  houfe  of  thebride's  father, 
who  attended  alfo  with  her  relations,  conducted  her 
from  thence  to  that  of  her  future  hufband,  being 
led  by  a  matron,  and  followed  by  a  company  of  young 
maidens.  On  her  arrival,  fhe  was  received  by  the 
bridegroom,  who  proceeded  along  with  her  to  the 
church,  where  a  prieft  performed  the  nuptial  bene- 
diction. When  the  bride  was  a  virgin,  this  was 
commonly  done  beneath  a  large  canopy,  to  fave  her 
blulhes  :  when  a  widow,  it  was  thought  unnecef- 
fary.  Among  the  Franks.,  initead  of  the  church, 
marriages  were  to  be  performed  in  a  full  court, 
where  a  buckler  had  been  three  times  lifted  up,  and 
three  caufes  at  leaft  openly  tried  :  othenvife  it  was 
not  valid.  When  it  was  done  in  the  church,  the 
prieft  afterward  crowned  the  young  couple  with 
flowers :  and  in  this  manner  they  went  home,  and 
fpent  the  afternoon  in  drinking  and  dancing ;  and 
at  night,  the  whole  of  the  company  having  fcen  the 


258  THE  HISTORY 

bridegroom  and   bride   in  bed  together,  drank  to 
them,  and  retired. 

It  is  a  melancholy  truth,  that  the  improvement  of 
fociety  improves  alfo  the  arts  of  fraud  and  of  cun- 
ning, and  renders  a  far  greater  number  of  laws  and 
of  ceremonies  neceiTary,  in  order  to  bind  mankind,  to 
good  faith  and  duty,  than  are  among  the  leis  culti- 
vated part  of  the  Ipecies.  This  is  one  reaion  why 
the  ceremonies  of  marriage  were  obliged  to  be  made 
more  folemn  and  binding ;  but  befides  this,  there 
are  others  not  lefs  powerful.  The  laws  of  Mofes, 
as  well  as  thofe  of  alraoft  all  antiquity,  had  given  to 
the  men  a  liberty  of  polygamy,  of  concubinage,  and 
had  made  divorces  a  matter  of  the  greateft  faci- 
lity :  hence  the  yoke  of  matrimony  to  them  not 
only  felt  light,  butwaseafily  ihaken  off.  But  the 
introduction  of  Chriftianity  brought  with  it  laws  of 
a  different  nature ;  it  deftroyed  all  thefe  privileges, 
and  having  joined  only  one  man  and  one  woman  to- 
gether, required  the  fame  abfolute  and  unconditional 
fidelity  from  both,  and  bound  the  yoke  of  matri- 
mony fo  hard  upon  them,  that  death  only  could 
break  it.  Hence  the  men  not  only  violated  their 
faith  to  their  wives  in  fecret,  but,  when  opportu- 
nity offered,  alfo  denied  their  marriage;  and  hence 
religion  was  at  firfh  called  in  to  overawe  the  conlci- 
ence,  and  make  the  compact  more  folemn. 

We  have  already  mentioned,  that"  the  firft  cele- 
bration of  marriage  by  priefts  was  among  the  ancient 
Romans ;  and  as  the  Chriftian  religion  was  almoft 
at  its  very  origin  introduced  into  Rome,  from  them 
the  Chriftian  priefts,  perhaps,  borrowed  the  cuf- 
tom  of  celebrating  marriages  alio.  But  it  was  fome 
ages  before  mankind  began  to  confider  thofe  as  the 
only  legal  marriages,  which  were  folemnized  by  a 


OF  WOMEN.  i$ 

prieft,  or  before  the  priefts  themfelves  thought  of 
appropriating  this  privilege  entirely  to  their  order. 
The  Franks  and  fome  other  Chriftians  were  married 
in  their  courts  of  juftice,  by  their  relations  or  ma- 
giftrates.  Whether  Chriftian  priefts  firft  performed 
the  ceremonies  of  marriage,  with  a  view  to  give  an 
additional  folemnity  to  them,  and,  by  fo  doing,  to 
induce  the  parties  more  ftrictly  to  obferve  their  ob- 
ligations, or  with  a  view  to  add  to  the  importance 
and  revenues  of  the  church,  is  at  this  period  uncer- 
tain. But  however  that  be,  Soter,  the  fifteenth 
bifhop  who  had  filled  St.  Peter's  Chair  (for  they  had 
fcarcely  then  affumed  the  name  and  authority  of 
Popes,)  finding  that  the  appropriation  of  marriage 
folely  to  the  clergy  was  likely  to  bring  in  no  incon- 
fiderable  revenue,  ordained,  that  no  woman  fhould 
be  deemed  a  lawful  wife,  unlefs  formally  married 
by  the  pried,  and  given  away  by  her  parents. — 
Though  this  was  a  great  innovation  on  the  ancient 
cuftoms,  and  perhaps  encroachment  on  the  right  of 
civil  power,  we  do  not  find  that  any  refiftance  was 
made  to  it  at  Rome.  In  other  parts  of  the  Chriftian 
world,  however,  where  the  fuccelTor  of  St.  Peter 
had  lefs  influence,  parents  and  magiftrates  ilil!  con- 
tinued to  exert  the  power  of  marrying ;  but  this 
power  feems,  in  procefs  of  time,  to  have  been 
almoft  entirely  wrefted  out  of  their  hands,  efpecially 
in  R.  Catholic  countries,  where  the  clergy  were  obli- 
ged to  make  marriage  a  facrament,  in  order  to  keep 
the  profane  laity  entirely  from  adminiftering  it;  but 
at  what  time  they  fell  upon  this  expedient  is  not  cer- 
tainly known. 

Among  nations  which  had  fhaken  off  the  autho- 
rity of  the  church  of  Rome,  the  priefts  ftill  retained 
almoft  an  exclufive  power  of  joining  men  and  women 
together*™  marriage.     This  appears  rather,  how- 


2 Go  THE  HISTORY 

ever,  to  have  been  by  the  tacit  confent  of  the  civil 
power,  than  from  any  defeft  in  its  right  and  autho- 
rity; for  in  the  time  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  marriages 
were  folemnized  frequently  by  the  juftices  of  the 
peace ;  and  the  clergy  neither  attempted  to  invalidate 
them,  nor  to  make  the  children  proceeding  from  them 
illegitimate;  c'.nd  when  the  province  of  New  England 
wasflril  fettled,  one  of  the  earlieil:  laws  of  the  colo- 
ny was,  that  the  power  of  marrying  ihould  belong 
to  the  madftrates.  How  different  was  the  cafe 
with  the  firil  French  fettlers  in  Canada  !  For  many 
years  aprieft  had  not  been  feen  in  that  country,  and 
a  magistrate  could  not  marry :  the  confequence  was 
natural;  men  and  women  joined  themfelves  together 
as  hufband  and  wife,  trailing  to  the  vows  and  pro- 
mifes  of  each  other.  Father  Charlevoix,  a  Jefuit, 
at  lafl:  travelling  into  thofe  wild  regions,  found  many 
of  the  fnnple,  innocent  inhabitants  living  in  that 
manner ;  with  all  of  whom  he  found  much  fault, 
enjoined  them  to  do  penance,  and  afterwards  mar- 
ried them.  After  the  Reftoration,  the  power  of 
marrying  again  reverted  to  the  clergy.  The  magif- 
trate,  however,  had  not  entirely  reiigned  his  right 
to  that  power;  but  it  was  by  a  late  aft  of  parlia- 
ment entirely  furrendered  to  them,  and  a  penalty 
annexed  to  the  folemnization  of  it  by  any  other  per- 
fon  whatever. 

Whence  it  originated  is  not  eafy  to  lay,  but  a 
notion  pretty  generally  prevails  in  this  and  feveral 
other  countries,  that  the  clergy,  and  they  only,  are 
veiled  with  a  power  from  heaven,  of  licenfmg  men 
and  women  to  come  together  for  the  purpofes  of  pro- 
pagation;* whereas  nothing  can  be  more  evident, 

*  This  was  not  the  only  right  ufurped  by  the  clergy  in  the 
middle  ages  ;    there  were  a  variety   of  others.      No  maa  was 


OF  WOMEN.  261 

than  that  the  two  fexes  being  made  for  each  other, 
have  from  nature,  the  right  of  coming  together  for 
this  purpofe,  and  of  difpofmg  of  themfelves  to  each 
other;  fo  that  a  clergyman,  in  performing  a  marri- 
age ceremony,  does  not  confer  any  right  or  privi- 
lege on  the  parties,  which  they  had  not  before,  but 
only  in  a  public  manner,  and  as  appointed  by  the 
Jegiflature  of  his  country,  witneiTes  and  authenticates 
the  public  declaration  they  make  of  having  entered 
into  a  matrimonial  agreement  according  to  the  laws 
and  cuftoms  of  that  country ;  to  which  bargain  or 
agreement,  this  folemn  and  public  authentication 
obliges  the  parties  to  ftand,  and  becomes  their  fecu- 
rity  for  the  fidelity  of  each  other:  thus,  whether  the 
marriage  ceremony  be  performed  as  it  now  is  in 
moft  parts  of  the  Chriftian  world,  by  a  clergyman, 
or,  as  it  formerly  was,  and  ftill  is  in  many  parts  of 
the  globe,  by  a  civil  magiflrate ;  neither  the  acl  of 
the  clergyman,  nor  of  the  magiflrate,  convey  any 
right,  but  only  enter  on  public  record,  the  recog- 
nizance of  fuch  parties  entering  with  mutual  confent 
on  the  exercife  of  a  right  they  have  by  nature;  in 
the  fame  manner,  as  when  an  heir  at  law  fucceeds 
to  an  eftate,  the  ceremonies  cuftomary  in  the  coun- 
try where  he  refides  at  entering  him  heir,  do  not 
convey  to  him  any  new  right  to  that  eftate,  but 
only  publicly  declare  and  manifeft  to  his  country, 
that  he  has  .entered  on  the  ufe  of  that  eftate  by  vir- 
tue of  his  inherent  right  as  heir  to  it  by  nature. 

lowed  Chriftian  burial  who  had  not,  according  to  his  circum- 
ftances,  bequeathed  iomething  to  the  church.  A  new-married 
couple  were  not  allowed  to  go  to  bed  together  for  the  firft  three 
nights,  unlefs  they  paid  the  church  for  a  difpenfation.  .  In  fhort, 
a  man  could  neither  come  into  the  world,  continue  in  it,  nor  go 
out  of  it,  without  being  laid  under  contribution  by  the  clergy, 

VOL.  II.  L  I 


zCz  THE  HISTORY 

ire  many  people,  and  particularly  of  our 
fair  readers,  who  imagine,  that  if  marriage  were 
only  conlidered  as  a  civil  ceremony,  it  would  lofe 
much  of  its  validity ;  but  a  little  reflection  will  difco- 
ver  this  to  be  an  error.  When  two  or  more  people 
make  an  agreement  to  do  fuch  and  fucti  offices,  and 
to  abftain  from  the  doing  of  others,  if  they  take  an 
bath,  on  the  Bible,  on  the  Koran,  or  the  Talmud, 
at  the  altar,  or  in  the  open  field,  the  oath  is  not  by 
any  of  thefe  additional  circumflances  rendered  more 
or  lefs binding,  unlefs  to  fuperftitious  minds;  its  force 
and  obligatory  power  is  derived  from  another  fource: 
from  our  ideas  of  moral  rectitude  and  fidelity,  and 
its  obligation  upon  us  would  be  as  flrong,  and  a 
breach  of  it  as  immoral  and  difhonourable,  if  we 
made  it  in -our  clofet,  as  if  before  witneffes,  and  in 
any  of  the  methods  we  have  mentioned.  Every  per- 
fon  whofe  mind  is  not  warped  by  fuperilition,  confi- 
ders  himfelf  to  be  as  firmly  bound  by  a  civil  as  a  reli- 
gious oath,  and  with  an  equal  degree  of  confcienti- 
oufnefs  performs  what  he  fwore  to,  at  the  bar,  as 
at  the  altar;  and  were  this  not  the  cafe,  we  mould 
either  be  obliged  to  call  in  the  aid  of  religion  to 
every  kind  of  obligation,  or  to  put  an  end  to  all  mu- 
tual trull  and  confidence  in  every  civil  tranfattion. 
Marriage,  therefore,  (lands  exactly  in  the  fame 
is  all  other  tranfactions  of  a  nature  interefiing 
to  the  public,  it  is  not  allowed  that  every  one  fliould 
enter  into  it  according  to  his  own  whim  and  caprice, 
but  according  to  all  the  forms  and  ceremonies  pre- 
ferred by  the  laws  of  this  country.  In  Japan,  fhe 
is  only  a  lawful  wife  who  is  given  by  their  great  re- 
nal pontiff.  By  the  laws  of  Mahomet,  fire  is  only 
fo,  who  is  married  by  the  judge;  and  in  a  great 
many  parts  of  the  world,  fhe  cannot  be  fo  unlefs 
given  by  her  parents. 


OF  WOMEN.  2«3 

Marriage  is  a  word  which,  in  different  countries, 
admits  of  a  very  different  fignification ;  among  the 
greatefl  part  of  the  ancients,  it  implied  a  fort  of  a 
bargain  entered  into  by  one  man  and  feveral  women, 
that  they  mould  ferve  and  obey  him,  and  be  liable 
to  be  turned  off  at  his  pleafure ;  in  the  Eaft  it  im- 
plies nearly  the  fame  thing  at  this  day  :  in  the  Greek 
iflands,  and  a  variety  of  other  places,  it  fignifies  a 
temporary  agreement  between  a  man  and  a  woman 
to  cohabit  together  fo  long  as  they  can  agree  or  find 
it  convenient.  On  the  coafl  of  Guinea,  and  in  almoft 
all  favage  countries,  it  is  a  legal  method  of  condemn- 
ing women  to  be  the  flaves  of  their  hufbands,  who 
confider  them  only  as  made  to  earn  their  fubfiitence, 
and  rear  their  children.  In  Europe,  it  is  a  mutual 
and  almoft  indiffoluble  agreement  between  one  man 
and  one  woman,  to  live  and  cohabit  together  for  life, 
and  abide  by  one  another  in  every  circumftance  of 
profperous  or  adverfe  fortune. 

But  Europe  is  not  the  only  country  where  marria- 
ges are  for  life  ;  they  are  fo  wherever  men  are  po- 
lifhed  by  fociety,  and  the  marriage  rites  and  cere- 
monies in  fuch  places  generally  have  a  regard  to  the 
liberties  and  privileges  of  the  woman  as  well  as  of 
the  man.  But  in  countries  little  civilized,  and  where 
the  fex,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  are  ilaves  to 
their  parents,  relations,  or  hufbands,  the  marriage 
ceremonies  are  for  the  moft  part  fomeway  expreffive 
of  that  abje&  condition.  There  are,  however, 
many  exceptions  to  thefe  general  rules,  and  the 
marriage  ceremonies  in  many  countries  feem  to  have 
been  contrived  with  no  other  view,  than  to  make  the 
marriage  publicly  known,  by  exhibiting  feme  pom- 
pous rite  in  the  prefence  of  a  great  number  of  people, 
which  indeed,  befides  the    private  engagements  of 


264  THE  HISTORY 

the  parties,  is  all  that  can  reafonably  be  wanted  in 
any  marriage  agreement  whatever. 

Over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  and  in  countries 
peopled  by  European  colonies,  the  marriage  cere- 
mony expreffes  the  duty  of  the  parties,  as  well  as 
their  interefts,  and  the  regard  they  ought  to  have 
for  the  happinefs  of  each  other  ;  and  the  general 
laws  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the  particular  flipu- 
lations  of  the  matrimonial  bargain,  take  care  of  the 
freedom  and  immunities  of  the  woman,  and  will  nei- 
ther fuffer  her  perfon  nor  property  to  be  abufed  by 
the  arbitrary  will  of  a  hufband.*  But  we  have 
already  feen,  that  among  the  Jews,  and  other  anci- 
ent nations,  the  laws  fecuring  either  the  perfons  or 
property  of  married  women  were  but  few  and  weak, 
and  that  both  were  too  much  left  at  the  mercy  of 
their  hufbands.  The  fame  matrimonial  powers  are 
veiled  in  the  hufbands  of  Afia  and  Africa  at  this 
day.  The  Moguls,  who  marry  as  many  women  as 
they  pleafe,  have  their  wives  of  feveral  different 
ranks,  and  may  always  advance '  any  of  them  to 
one  of  the  higher  ranks,  or  degrade  them  to  one 
of  the  lower  at  pleafure.  In  Ruflia,  it  was  formerly 
a  part  of  the  marriage  ceremony  for  the  bride  to 
prefent  the  bridegroom  with  a  whip,  made  with  her 
own  hands,  in  token  of  fubjettion  ;  among  the  fava- 
ges  of  Canada,  a  flrap,  a  kettle,  and  a  faggot,  are 
put  into  the  bride's  apartment  as  fymbols  of  her  fub- 
miffion  and  flavery  ;  in  the  ifland  of  Java,  the  bride 
wafhes  the  bridegroom's  feet  -,  on  the  coaft  of  Gui- 

*  The  Ruffians  were  formerly  accuftomed  to  ufe  their  wives 
with  the  moft  relentlefs  fevcrity  ;  to  remedy  which,  the  huf- 
band has  of  late-  fubjecled  himfelf,  by  his  marriage  contract,  to 
certain  penalties  if  he  ufed  his  wife  ill,  either  by  manuul  cor- 
rection, whipping,  boxing,  kicking,  or  fcratching. 


OF  WOMEN,  265 

nea,  the  bride  folemnly  vows  love  and  conftancy, 
whatever  ufage  or  returns  fhe  may  meet  with  from 
her  husband. 

To  thefe  inftances,  we  might  add  many  others, 
where  the  marriage  ceremonies  are  exurefiive  of  the 
condition  of  the  wife  ;  but  we  leave  the  ungrateful 
talk,  and  proceed  to  take  notice  of  thoie,  where,  on 
the  part  of  the  bridegroom,  they  exprefshis  acknow- 
ledgment of  having  attained  fomething  he  efieems, 
values,  and  wifhes  to  cherifh  and  protecl. 


266  THE  HISTORY 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 


The  fame  Subject  continued. 


1  HE  cuftoms  we  have  juffc  now  related, 
are  only  to  be  met  with  among  favages,  or  fuch  as 
are  a  few  degrees  removed  from  that  ftate.  Thofe 
we  now  proceed  to,  mark  a  people  either  confidera- 
bly  removed  from  ferocity  of  manners,  or  far  advan- 
ced in  a  ftate  of  cultivation  and  politenefs.  Among 
the  ancient  Peruvians,  the  bridegroom  carried  a  pair 
of  fhoes  to  the  bride,  and  put  them  upon  her  feet 
with  his  own  hands.  At  Laos,  the  marriage  cere- 
mony is  not  only  rational,  but  expreiiive  of  the  value 
the  bridegroom  has  for  his  bride  ;  their  mutual 
engagements  are  attefted  by  two  witnefles,  felected 
from  among  thofe  who  have  lived  the  longell  and 
moil  lovingly  together.  In  Siam,  the  bridegroom 
makes  a  prefent  of  betel  to  his  bride,  in  the  moil 
refpeclful  manner.  In  Lapland  {lie  is  prefented  with 
brandy,  rein-deer,  and  trinkets.  In  countries  more 
civilized,  a  dower  is  fettled  upon  her,  and  prefents 
made  her  on  her  going  home  to  the  houfe  of  her  huf- 
band.  In  England,  fhe  is  treated  with  every  cir- 
cmnfhmce  of  honour  and  refpect,  and  the  words  of 
the  marriage  ceremony  are  carried  to  themoft  foolifh 
and  unmeaning  length  :  cc  With  my  body  I  thee  wor- 
kup, and  with  my  worldly  goods  I  thee  endow." — 
Much  more  fimple,  and  at  the  fame  time  mere  fen- 
fible,  were  the  marriage  ceremonies  of  the  ancient 
Mexicans,  and  inhabitants  of  Ceylon,  who  tied  the 
garments  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom  together, 
thereby  fignifying  that  they  had  bound  themfclves  to 


OF  WOMEN.  267 

each  other  through  all   the  profperous  and  adverfe 
circumftances  of  life. 

But  befides  thefe  ceremonies  of  marriage,  which 
feem  plainly  to  be  expreihve  of  the  low  or  of  the 
high  condition  of  women,  there  are  others  which 
have  no  regard  to  either,  and  feem  only  calculated 
to  give  a  public  notoriety  and  fkmnefs  to  the  com- 
pact. Such  is  that  faid  to  have  been  anciently  prac- 
tifed  in  Canada,  where  the  bride  and  bridegroom 
held  a  rod  between  them,  while  the  old  men  pro- 
nounced certain  prayers  over  them,  after  which,  they 
broke  the  rod  into  as  many  pieces  as  there  were  wit- 
neiTes,  and  gave  to  each  a  piece,  who  carried  it 
'  home,  and  depofited  it  as  a  teftimony  of  the  marriage 
that  had  happened.  Such  is  the  ceremony  of  tying 
the  garments  publicly  together,  and  fuch  are  thofe 
of  inviting  friends  and  neighbours  to  feaff.,  and  to 
be  witneffes  of  the  matrimonial  engagements.  As 
the  natural  modefty  of  the  fex  always  fuppofes  that 
a  woman  {hall  with  fome  reluctance  relinquish  her 
flate  of  virginity,  the  marriage  ceremony  is  fre- 
quently expreflive  of  this  reluctance.  In  fome  coun- 
tries, the  bride  hides  herfelf;  in  others,  (lie  muft 
feemingly  be  fought  for;  in  others,  the  ceremony 
muft  be  performed  while  ihe  is  covered  with  a  veil, 
or  under  a  canopy  to  fave  her  blumes.  But  what 
feems  more  extraordinary,  there  are  iriftances  where 
the  man  is  feemingly  to  be  forced  to  accept  of  what 
almolt  in  all  countries  he  eagerly  feeks  after.  In  a 
province  of  Old  Mexico,  the  bridegroom  was  carri- 
ed off  by  his  relations,  that  it  might  be  thought  he 
was  forced  into  the  flate  of  wedlock,  a  flate  fo  per- 
plexed with  thorns  and  cares.  In  almoft  all  coun- 
tries, the  day  of  marriage  is  dedicated  to  mirth  and 
to  feflivity,  and  every  thing  that  can  cloud  the  brow, 
or  damp   the  general  joy,  is  carefully   avoided.    In 


268  THE  HISTORY 

Mufcovy,  however,  the  cafe  was  different;  as  a 
part  of  the  ceremony  they  crowned  the  young  couple 
with  wormwood,  as  an  emblem  of  the  bitternefs  of 
thofe  anxieties  and  cares  upon  which  they  were 
entering. 

If  the  laws  we  have  formerly  mentioned,  forbid- 
ding the  marriage  of  near  relations  with  each  other, 
originated  from  the  political  view  of  prefervrag  the 
human  race  from  degeneracy  they  are  the  only  laws 
we  meet  with  on  that  fubjett,  and  exert  almoft  the 
only  care  we  find  taken  of  fo  important  a  matter. 
The  Afiatic  is  careful  to  improve  the  breed  of  his 
elephants,  the  Arabian  of  his  horfes,  and  the  Lap- 
lander of  his  rein-deer.  The  Englifhman,  eager  to 
have  fwift  horfes,  flaunch  dogs,  and  victorious 
cocks,  grudges  no  care,  and  fpares  no  expence,  to 
have  the  males  and  females  matched  properly;  but 
fince  the  days  of  Solon,  where  is  the  legiilator,  or 
fmce  the  times  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  where  are  the 
private  perfons,  who  take  any  care  to  improve,  or 
even  to  keep  from  degeneracy  the  breed  of.  their 
own  fpecies  ?  The  Englifhman  who  folicitoufly 
attends  the  training  of  his  colts  and  puppies,  would 
be  afhamed  to  be  caught  in  the  nurfery  ;  and  while 
no  motive  could  prevail  upon  him  to  breed  horfes  or 
hounds  from  an  improper  or  contaminated  kind,  he 
will  calmly,  or  rather  inconfiderately,  match  him- 
felf  with  the  moll  decrepid  or  difeafed  of  the  human 
fpecies ;  thoughtlefs  of  the  weakneffes  and  evils  he 
is  going  to  entail  on  pofterity,  and  confidering  no- 
thing but  the  acquifition  of  fortune  he  is  by  her  alli- 
ance to  convey  to  an  offspring,  by  difeafes  rendered 
unable  to  ufe  it.  The  Mufcovites  were  formerly  the 
only  people,  bcfides  the  Greeks,  who  paid  a  proper 
attention  to  this  fubjecl.  After  the  preliminaries  of 
a  marriage  were  fettled  between  the  parents  of  a 


OF  WOMEN.  263 

young  couple,  the  bride  was  (tripped  naked,  and 
carefully  examined  by  a  jury  of  matrons,  when,  if 
they  found  any  bodily  defect,  they  endeavoured  to 
cure  it ;  but  if  it  would  admit  of  no  remedy,  the 
match  was  broke  off,  and  fne  was  confidcred  not 
only  as  a  very  improper  fubject  to  breed  from, 
but  improper  alfo  for  maintaining  the  affections  of  a 
hufband,  after  he  had  difcovered  the  impofition  (he 
had  put  upon  him. 

In  England,  the  marriage  ceremony  is  not  to  be 
performed  but  in  the  church,  and  between  the  hours 
of  eight  and  twelve  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  In 
Scotland,  this  is  deemed  incompatible  with  morality 
and  found  policy,  as  it  hinders  the  valetudinarian 
from  doing  all  the  juftice  in  his  power  to  the  miftrefs 
he  has  lived  with  and  debauched  ;  he  may  therefore 
marry  her  at  any  hour,  or  in  any  place,  and  by  that 
marriage,  legitimate  all  the  children  he  has  bv  her, 
whether  they  be  prefent  at  the  marriage  or  not. — 
Nearly  the  fame  thing  takes  place  all  over  Germany; 
only  in  fome  parts  of  it,  the  children  to  be  legitima- 
ted are  required  to  be  prefent,  to  be  acknowledged 
by  the  father,  and  to  hold  the  lappet  of  his  gar- 
ment, during  the  performance  of  the  marriage 
ceremony. 

In  Pruliia,  though  their  code  of  laws  feems  in 
general  to  be  as  reafonable,  and  as  confident  with 
found  policy  as  any  in  Europe,  yet  we  dill  find  in  it, 
an  allowance  given  for  a  fpecies  of  that  concubinage, 
which  has  long  fmce  been  expelled  from  almofr.  all 
the  weflern  world.  A  man  may  there  marry  what 
is  called  a  left-handed  wife,  to  whom  he  is  married 
'for  life,  and  by  the  common  ceremony  ;*  but  with 

*  The  only  difference  in   the   ceremony   is,  the  bridegroom 
gives  her  his  left  hand  inftead  of  his  right. 
VOL.  IT.  M  m 


THE  HISTORY 

this  exprefs  agreement^  that  neither  (lie  nor  her  chil- 
dren fhall  live  in  the  houfe  of  her  hufband,  nor  fhall 
take  his  name,  nor  bear  his  arms,  nor  claim  any 
er  or  donation  ufually  claimed  by  every  other 
wife,  nor  difpofe  of  any  part  of  his  property,  exert 
any  authority  over  his  fervants,  nor  fuccecd  to  his 
eftates  or  his  titles  ;  but  {hall  be  contented  with  what 
was  agreed  on  for  their  fubfiftence  during  his  life, 
and  with  what  he  fhall  give  them  at  his  death.  This 
privilege,  however,  is  always  in  the  power  of  the 
king  to  deny,  and  is  feldom  granted  to  any  but  fuch 
of  the  nobility  as  are  left  with  large  families,  and 
from  the  fmallnefs  of  their  fortunes  cannot  afford  to 
marry  another  legal  wife,  and  rear  up  another  family 
of  the  fame  rank  with  themfelves. 

Though  the  laws  of  almoft  every -civilized  coun- 
try have  required  the  confent  of  parents  to  the  mar- 
riage of  their  children,  yet  when  fuch  children  marry 
without  it,  the  evil  is  confidered  as  incapable  of  any 
remedy.  The  Pruffian  law,  however,  thinks  other- 
wife  :  and  in  this  cafe  gives  the  parents  a  power  of 
applying  to  the  confiflory,  which  feparates  the  par- 
ties, and  obliges  the  man  to  give  the  woman  a  portion 
the  lofs  of  her  virginity,  and  contribute  to  the 

,intenanc€  and  education  of  the  child  or  children  of 
the  marriage.  Promifes  of  marriage  to  a  woman, 
have,  in  all  well  regulated  dates,  been  confidered 
as  facred,  and  the  breach  of  them  punifhed  by  a  va- 
riety of  methods  ;  but  the  Pruffian  laws  proceed  in 
another  manner  ;  they  do  not  endeavour  io  much  to 
punifh  the  breach  of  the  promife,  as  to  enforce  the 
performance  of  it,  which  they  do  by  the  admonitions 
of  religion,  by  imprifonment,  by  a  fine  of  half  the 
man's  fortune,  or  a  certain  part  of  what  he  earns 
by  his  daily  labour  ;  or  if  he  runs  away  to  evade  the 
I  arria;  e,     by    marrying    the   woman    to   him   by 


OF  WOMEN.  271 

proxy,  and  allowing  her  a  maintenance  out   of  hL 
effete. 

Before  we  take  leave  of  the  fubjeft  of  matrimony, 

it  may  not  be  improper  to  take  a  view  of  the  opposi- 
tions that  have  been  made  to  it ;  oppofitions  which 
have  arifen  chiefly  on  pretence  of  religion,  but  which, 
when  thorough-ly  examined,  will,  we  perfuade  our- 
felves,  appear  to  have  been  founded  on  a  very  dif- 
ferent motive.  The  two  fexes  were  evidently  intend- 
ed for  each  other,  and  "  increafe  and  multiply"  was 
the  firft  great  command  given  them  by  the  Author 
of  nature  ;  but  fuppofe  no  fuch  command  had  been 
given,  how  it  firft  entered  into  the  mind  of  man, 
that  the  propagation  or  continuation  of  the  fpecies 
was  criminal  in  the  eye  of  heaven,  is  not  eafy  to 
conceive.  Ridiculous,  however,  as  this  notion  may 
appear,  it  is  one  of  thole  which  early  inflnuated  itfelf 
among  mankind  ;  and  plainly  demonftrated,  that 
reafoning  beings  are  the  mod  apt  to  deviate  from 
nature,  and  not  only  to  difobey  her  plained  dictates, 
but,  on  pretence  of  pleafmg  her  Author,  to  render 
themfelves  forever  incapable  of  obeying  them. 

As  the  appetite  towards  the  other  fex  is  one  of  the 
flrongeft  and  mod  ungovernable  in  our  nature;  as 
it  intrudes  itfelf  more  than  any  other  into  our 
thoughts,  and  frequently  diverts  them  from  every 
other  purpofe  or  employment ;  it  may,  at  firft,  on 
this  account,  have  been  reckoned  criminal  when  it 
interfered  with  worfhip  and  devotion;  and  emafcu- 
lation  was  made  ufe  of  in  order  to  get  rid  of  it,  which 
may,  perhaps,  have  been  the  origin  of  eunuchs. 
But  however  this  be,  it  is  certain,  that  there  were 
men  of  various  religions,  who  made  themfelves  inca- 
pable of  procreation  on  a  religious  account,  as  we 
are  told  that  the  priefta  of  Cybele  conftantly  caftra- 


z-jz  THE  HISTORY 

ted  themfelves;  and  by  our  Saviour,  that  there  are 
eunuchs  who  make  themfelves  fuch  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven's  fake. 

However  abfurd  it  may  appear  to  reafon  and  to 
philofophy,  it  is  certainly  a  raft,  that  religionifts  of 
various  kinds  had  early  got  an  idea,  that  the  propa- 
gation of  their  fpecies  was,  if  not  criminal,  at  leaf! 
derogatory  to  their  facred  functions.  Thus  the 
priefts  of  ancient  Egypt  were  obliged,  by  the  rules 
of  their  order,  to  abftain  from  women,  though  in 
after  periods  they  allowed  them  one  wife;  the  priefts 
of  the  Myfians  like  wife  bound  themfelves  to  celibacy; 
and  the  priefts  of  the  Romifh  church,  in  times  more 
enlightened  by  reafon,  {till  follow  the  execrable  ex- 
ample, as  if  Heaven  were  pleafed  with  every  means 
of  preferving  the  individual,  and  difpleafed  with  the 
means  of  continuing  the  fpecies. 

But  not  only  the  priefchood,  but  feveral  other 
religious  orders  of  both  fexes,.  began  to  fpring  up, 
who  vainly  imagined  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  the 
Author  of  nature,  by  difcontinuing  his  works. — 
The  Egyptians  and  ancient  Indians  had  communities 
of  Cenobites,  who  are  fuppofed  to  have  lived  in 
celibacy.  Strabo  mentions  a  feci:  among  the  Thra- 
cians  that  vowed  perpetual  abftinence  from  women, 
and  were  on  that  account  revered  for  their  fan ctity. 
The  EiTenes,  among  the  Jews,  laid  themfelves 
under  the  fame  obligation.  The  Romans  had  their 
veftal  virgins,  who  kept  perpetually  alive  the  facred 
fire  in  the  temple  of  the  goddefs  of  chaility,  and 
were  buried  alive  if  they  proved  incontinent.  The 
Peruvians  had  their  virmns  of  the  Sun,  who  were 
brought  up  in  the  temple  of  that  luminary,  and  obli- 
-1  to  the  llricteft  virginity,  under  the  fame  penalty 
the  vcftals  among  the  Roman?.     Friga,  the  god- 


OF  WOMEN.  273 

defs  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians,  had  alfo  a  temple 
where  her  oracles  and  a  facred  fire  were  kept,  by 
prophetefTes  devoted  to  perpetual  virginity.  Sonte 
tribes  of  the  ancient  Indians  reckoned  virginity 
endowed  with  fuch  a  power,  that  their  moil  appro- 
ved  remedies  were  ufelefs  and  unavailing,  unleis  ad- 
miniftcred  by  the  hand  of  a  virgin. 

Soon  after  the  introduction  of  ehriftianity,  St. 
Mark  is  faid  to  have  founded  a  fociety  called  The- 
rapeutes,  who  dwelt  by  the  lake  Moeris  in  l.gypt, 
and  devoted  themfelves  to  folitude  and  religious 
offices.  About  the  year  305  of  the  chriflian  com- 
putation, St.  Anthony  being  perfecuted  by  Diode- 
fian,  retired  into  the  defert  near  the  lake  Moeris  j 
numbers  of  people  loon  following  his  example, 
joined  themfelves  to  the  Therapeutes  ;  St.  Anthony 
being  placed  as  their  head,  and  improving  upon 
their  rules,  firft  formed  them  into  regular  mcna- 
fteries,  and  enjoined  them  to  live  in  mortification 
and  chaflity.  About  the  fame  time,  or  foon  after;,. 
St.  Synclitica,  refolving  not  to  be  behind  St.  An- 
thony in  her  zeal  for  chaflity,  is  generally  believed 
to  have  collected  together  a  number  of  enthtlfiaftrc 
females,  and  to  have  founded  the  firft  nunnery  for 
their  reception.  Some  imagine  the  fcheme  of  celi- 
bacy was  concerted  between  St.  Anthony  and  S;. 
Synclitica,  as  St.  Anthony,  on  his  firft  retiring  foto 
folitude,  is  faid  to  have  put  his  filler  into  a  nunnery, 
which  mud  have  been  that  of  St.  Synclitica;  but 
however  this  be,  from  their  inftitution,  aionjta  an 
nuns  increafed  fo  fall,  that  in  the  city  of  Orix;  . 
about  feventeen  years  after  the  death  of  St.  Antho- 
ny,  there  were  twenty  thoufand  virgins  devoted  ■- 
celibacy. 


2-+  THE  HISTORY 

Such  at  this  time  was  the  rage  of  celibacy;  a  rage 
which,  however  unnatural,  will  ceafe  to  excite  our 
wonder,  when  we  confider,  that  it  was  accounted 
by  both  fexes  the  fure  and  only  infallible  road  to 
heaven  and  eternal  happinefs;  and  as  fuch,  it  beho- 
ved the  church  vigoroufly  to  maintain  and  counte- 
nance it,  which  me  did  by  beginning  about  this  time 
to  deny  the  liberty  of  marriage  to  her  fons.  In  the 
firll  council  of  Nice,  held  foon  after  the  introduction 
of  chriitianiiy,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  was  flrenu- 
oufly  argued  for,  and  fome  think  that  even  in  an 
earlier  period  it  had  been  the  fubject  of  debate; 
however  this  be,  it  was  not  agreed  to  in  the  council 
of  Nice,  though  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  it 
is  faid  that  Syricus,  bifhop  of  Rome,  enacted  the 
firfl  decree  againfl  the  marriage  of  monks;  a  decree 
which  was  not  univerfally  received:  for  feveral  cen- 
turies after,  we  find  that  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
clergymen  to  have  wives;  even  the  popes  were  al- 
lowed this  liberty,  as  it  is  laid  in  fome  of  the  old  fta- 
tutes  of  the  church,  That  it  was  lawful  for  the  pope 
to  marry  a  virgin  for  the  fake  of  having  children.  So 
exceedingly  difficult  is  it  to  combat  againfl  nature, 
that  little  regard  feems  to  have  been  paid  to  this  de- 
cree of  Syricus;  for  we  are  informed,  that  feveral 
centuries  after,  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  the 
clergy  to  have  wives,  and  perhaps  even  a  plurality 
of  them;  as  we  find  it  among  the  ordonnances  of 
pope  Sylvefler,  that  every  prieft  mould  be  the  huf- 
band  of  one  wife  only ;  and  Pius  the  Second  affirmed, 
that  though  many  ftrong  reafons  might  be  adduced 
in  fupport  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  there  were 
liill  flronger  reafons  againfl  it. 

In  the  year  400,  it  was  decreed  in  a  council,  that 
fuch  of  the  clergy  as  had  faithful  wives  fhould  not 
entertain  concubines,  but  fuch  as  either  had  no  wives, 


OF  WOMEN.  275 

or  were  joined  to  unfaithful  ones,  might  do  as  they 
pleafed.  In  the  year  441,  it  was  decreed,  that 
priefls  and  deacons  fhould  either  abflain  from  marri- 
age, or  be  degraded  from  their  office.  This  law 
feems  afterward  to  have  been  al'ittle  relaxed,  for  in 
the  year  572  one  of  the  canons  of  the  council  of  Lu- 
cenfe  fays,  when  a  deacon  is  elected,  and  declares 
that  he  has  not  the  gift  of  chaftity,  he  (hall  not  be 
ordained ;  but  if  he  fays  nothing,  is  ordained,  and 
afterwards  defires  to  marry,  he  (hall  be  fet  alide 
from  the  miniftry ;  and  if  a  fubdeacon  take  a  wife, 
he  may  be  a  reader  or  door-keeper,  but  he  fhail  not 
read  the  apofdes.  In  the  year  633,  it  was  ordained, 
That  priefls  fhould  live  chafte,  having  clean  bodies 
and  pure  minds  ;  and  the  fame  council,  as  if  it  had 
been  to  fliew  how  ill  their  itatutes  were  obferved, 
ordained  alfo,  That  fuch  clergy  as  had  married  wi- 
dows, wives  divorced  from  their  hufbands,  or  com- 
mon whores,  fhould  be  feparated  from  them.  In 
the  year  743,  all  the  canons  againfl  marriage  feem 
to  have  been  totally  difregarded,  as  we  find,  that 
even  thofe  who  were  bigamifts,  or  had  married  wi- 
dows, might  be  promoted  to  facred  orders.  In  the 
year  11 26,  the  notion  of  enforcing  celibacy  feems 
again  to  have  prevailed;  for  in  a  fynod  held  by  pope 
Honorius,  all  the  clergy  are  flri&lv  forbid  to  have 
wives,  and  ordered  to  be  degraded  from  their  office 
if  they  difobeyed  the  mandate,  a  mandate  which 
was  renewed  in  the  year  following,  with  fome  addi- 
tional threatenings  annexed  to  it;  and  fo  warm  were 
the  fathers  of  the  church  in  their  invectives  againft 
matrimony,  that  fome  of  them  rendered  themfelves 
ridiculous  by  their  intemperate  zeal.  St.  Jerom  ex- 
prefsly  declares,  that  the  end  of  matrimony  is  eter- 
nal death,  that  the  earth  is  indeed  filled  by  ii,  but 
heaven  by  virginity.  Edward  the  Confeflbr  was 
iainted  only  for  the  abdaining  from  the  conjugal  em- 


2 76  THE  HISTORY 

brace  ;  and  many  of  the  primitive  chriftians,  fully 
perfuaded  that  every  fpecies  of  the  carnal  appetite 
was  inconii (lent  with  pure  religion,  lived  with  a  wife 
as  they  would  have  done  with  a  filter.  Jovinian 
was  banifhed  in  the  fourth  century  by  the  emperor 
Honorius,  for  maintaining,  that  a  man  who  coha- 
bited with  his  wife  might  be  faved,  provided  he  ob- 
ferved  the  laws  of  piety  and  virtue  laid  down  in  the 
gofpel. 

Thefirft  canons  againfl:  marriage  were,  it  is  faid,only 
received  in  Italy  and  France,  a  proof  that  the  inha- 
bitants of  thefe  countries  were  either  lefs  fenfible,  or 
lefs  tenacious  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  than  their 
neighbours:  when,  or  by  whom  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  was  firft  introduced  into  England  is  not  per- 
fectly agreed  upon,  fome  fuppofing  it  was  St.  Dun- 
ilan  who,  with  the  confent  of  king  Edgar,  firfl  pro- 
pofed  to,  and  preffed  the  married  clergy  to  put  away 
their  wives,  which  all  thole  that  refufed  to  do  were 
depofed,  and  monks  put  into  their  livings ;  thefe 
monks,  whofe  invention  was  always  very  fruitful 
in  ftories  to  advance  their  own  interefr,  gave  out, 
that  all  the  married  clergy  who  difobeyed  the  order 
of  the  faint  were,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
transformed  into  eels  ;  and,  as  many  of  them  refi- 
ded  in  the  Ifle,  now  called  Ely,  it  is  faid  to  have 
taken  its  name  from  that  circumflance. 

At  a  fynod  held  at  Winchefter  under  the  fame  St. 
Dunftan,  the  monks  farther  averred,  that  fo  highly 
criminal  was  it  for  a  pried  to  marry,  that  even  a 
wooden  crofs  had  audibly  declared  againfl  the  horrid 
practice.  Others  place  the  firO:  attempt  of  this  kind, 
to  the  account  of  Alefrick,  archbifhop  of  Canter- 
bury, about  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  : 
however  this  be,  we  have  among  the  canons  a  de- 


OF  WOMEN.  277 

cree  of  the  archbifhops  of  Canterbury,  and  York, 
ordaining,  That  all  the  minilters  of  God,  efpecially 
priefts,  ihould  obferve  chaftity,  and  not  take  wives : 
and  in  the  year  1076,  there  was  a  council  affembled 
at  Winchester,  under  Lanfranc,  which  decreed,  That 
no  canon  fhould  have  a  wife ;  that  fuch  priefts  as 
lived  in  caftles  and  villages  ihould  not  be  obliged  to 
put  their  wives  away,  but  that  fuch  as  had  none 
ihould  not  be  allowed  to  marry  ;  and  that  bifhops 
ihould  not  either  ordain  priefts  nor  deacons,  unlefs 
they  previouily  declared  that  they  were  not  married. 
In  the  year  1 102,  archbifhop  Anfelm  held  a  council 
at  Weftminfter,  where  it  was  decreed,  That  no 
archdeacon,  prieft.,  deacon,  or  canon,  ihould  either 
marry  a  wife,  or  retain  her  if  he  had  one.  Anfelm, 
to  give  this  decree  greater  weight,  defired  of  rhe 
king,  that  the  principal  men  of  the  kingdom  might 
be  .  refent  at  the  council,  and  that  the  decree  might 
be  enforced  by  the  joint  confent  both  of  the  clergy 
and  laity ;  the  king  confented,  and  to  thefe  canons 
the  whole  realm  gave  a  general  Sanction.  The  clergy 
of  the  province  of  York,  however,  renionflrated 
againft  them,  and  refufed  to  put  away  their  wives ; 
the  unmarried  refufed  alfo  to  oblige  themfblves  to 
continue  in  that  ilate  ;  nor  were  the  clergy  of  Can- 
terbury much  more  tradable. 

About  two  years  afterward,  Anfelm  called  a  new 
council  at  London,  in  the  prefence  of  the  king  and 
barons,  where  canons  (till  feverer  than  the  former 
were  enacted ;  thofe  who  had  taken  women  fmce 
the  former  prohibition,  were  enjoined  to  difmifs 
them  fo  entirely,  as  not  to  be  knowingly  with  them 
in  the  fame  hoiife  ;  and  any  ecclefiaitic  accuf: 
this  tranfgrefTion  by  two  or  more  witneiies,  was  i 
prieft,  to  purge  himfelf  by  fix  wimeifes ;  if  a  cfea- 
con,  by  four  j  if  3  fab-deacon,  by  two  ;    otherwise 

VOL.  II, 


278  THE  HISTORY 

to  be  deemed  guilty.  Priefts,  archdeacons,  or 
canons,  refufing  to  part  with  their  women,  here 
(tylcd  adulterous  concubines,  were  to  be  de- 
prived of  their  livings,  put  out  of  the  choir,  and 
declared  infamous,  and  the  bifhop  had  authority  to 
take  away  all  their  moveable  goods,  as  well  as 
thofe  of  their  women.  This  law,  highly  unjuft  and 
fevere,  was  Mill  more  fo  in  France  ;  for  a  council 
held  at  Lyons  in  the  year  1042,  a  power  was  given 
to  the  barons  to  make  flaves  of  all  the  children  of 
the  married  clergy.  As  the  Englifh  clergy  were 
ftill  very  refra&ory  in  the  year  1 125,  cardinal  Cre- 
ma,  the  pope's  legate,  prefiding  in  a  council  at 
Weftminfter  with  a  view  to  enforce  the  papal  au- 
thority, made  a  long  and  inveterate  fpeech  againft 
the  horrid  fin  of  matrimony,  in  which  he  is  faid  to 
have  declared,  that  it  was  the  highefl  degree  of 
wickednefs  to  rife  from  the  fide  of  a  woman,  and 
make  the  body  of  Chrift;  though  it  happened  fome- 
what  unlucky  for  the  poor  cardinal,  that  he  was 
himfelf  that  fame  evening  caught  by  the  conflablein 
the  very  fituation  he  had  painted  as  fo  finful,  and  the 
fhame  of  it  foon  drove  him  out  of  England. 

In  the  year  11 29,  the  archbifhop  of  Canterbury 
being  legate,  a  council  was  called  at  London,  to 
which  all  the  clergy  of  England  were  fummoned  : 
here  it  was  enacted,  That  all  who  had  wives,  fhould 
put  them  away  before  the  next  feafl  of  St.  Andrew, 
under  pain  of  deprivation.  The  execution  of  this 
decree  was  left  to  the  king  ;  who  took  money  of  fevc- 
ral  priefts,  by  way  of  commutation,  and  fo  the  in- 
tention of  the  decree  was  fruftrated.  Many  of  the 
clergy  now  finding  a  heavy  fine  impofed  on  them, 
for  keeping  a  lawful  wife,  and  none  for  a  concu- 
bine, chofe  the  latter ;  by  fuch  means  their  lives 
became  fo  openly  fcandalous,  that  about  forty-fix 


OF  WOMEN.  279 

years  after,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  fecond,  Rich- 
ard, archbifhop  of  Canterbury,  in  a  fynod  held  at 
Weftminfter,  prohibited  all,  who  were  in  holy  or- 
ders, from  keeping  concubines,  as  well  as  from 
marrying.  The  like  prohibition  was  ifiued  after- 
ward, by  Herbert,  archbifhop  of  Canterbury,  and 
thenalfo  chief  juftice  of  England,  in  a  fynod  held  at 
York.  In  the  ninth  year  "of  Henry  the  Third,  Ste- 
phen Langton  revived  thefe  decrees ;  and  added, 
That  priefts  keeping  concubines,  mould  not  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  facraments,  nor  their  concubines 
allowed  Chriftian  burial.  But  in  fpite  of  all  thefe 
efforts,  many  of  the  clergy  Hill  retained  their  wives, 
concubines,  and  benefices,  till  cardinal  Otho,  fome 
time  after  made  a  pofitive  decree,  declaring,  That 
the  wives  and  children  of  fuch  priefts  mould  have  no 
benefit  from  the  eftates  of  their  hufbands  and  fathers ; 
and  that  fuch  eftates  fhould  be  vefted  in  the  church. 
This,  as  it  cut  off  the  widows  and  children  of  the 
clergy  from  all  means  of  fubfiftence,  and  turned 
them  beggars  into  the  world,  had  a  more  powerful 
effect,  than  all  the  cenfures  and  thunders  of  the 
church ;  and  at  laft  gave  the  fatal  blow  to  a  right 
which  the  clergy  had  ftruggled  to  maintain  for  many 
centuries  ;  and  from  this  time  they  feem  quietly  to 
have  fubmitted  to  the  yoke,  till  the  Reformation 
reftored  to  them  again  the  rights  of  mankind,  which 
had  been  violently  taken  from  them. 

In  this  manner  did  things  continue  till  the  reign 
of  Henry  the  Eighth,  when  difpenfations  to  keep 
concubines  became  common  to  fuch  prielis  as  were 
able  to  purchafe  them  ;  but  left  this  fhould  be  a  bad 
example,  they  were  enjoined  to  keep  them  privately, 
and  never  to  go  publickly  to  them  on  account  of 
fcandal.  Some  years  after,  a  temporal  law  was  ad- 
ded to  the  fpiritual,  declaring  it  felony  for  a  pried 


?8o  THE  HISTORY 

to  marry  ;  or  if  married,  to  have  any  commerce 
••"  ith  his  wife  ;  or  even  fo  much  as  to  converfe  with 
her  ;  or  for  any  perfon  to  preach  or  affirm,  that  it 
was  lawful  for  a  pried  to  marry.  This  law  was  re- 
pealed the  following  year,  though  the  canons  of  the 
church  were  ftill  in  force,  and  continued  fo  till  the 
time  of  Edward  the  Sixth  ;  when  the  authority  of 
the  fee  of  Rome  being  thrown  off,  an  aft  was  made, 
by  which  the  marriages  of  the  clergy  were  declared 
lawful,  and  their  children  legitimate.  Queen  Mary, 
in  the  firft  year  of  her  reign,  repealed  this  aft  ;  and 
in  this  flate  things  continued  during  the  reign  of 
queen  Elizabeth  ;  but  in  the  firft  year  of  James  the 
Firfr,  an  aft  was  again  made,  refloring  to  the  clergy 
the  rights  of  nature,  and  of  citizens  ;  and  the  aft 
remains  in  force  at  this  day. 

In  this  conteft:  we  have  feen  a  long  and  fevere 
ftruggle,  between  one  part  of  the  clergy,  contending 
for  the  authority  of  the  church,  and  another  part, 
contending  for  the  rights  of  nature.  Rut  why  this 
authority  of  the  church,  and  the  rights  of  nature, 
fhould  be  fo  oppofite  to  each  other,  is  a  point  invol- 
ved in  much  obfeurity.  It  has  been  alleged,  that 
the  reafon  why  the  church  enjoined  celibacy,  was, 
that  the  clergy  having  no  legitimate  offspring,  might 
turn  their  whole  attention  to  enrich  and  aggrandize 
that  community  only  of  which  they  were  members. 
This,  however,  does  not  appear  to  be  well  founded  ; 
for  illegitimate  children  may  engrofs  the  attention  of 
parents,  and  engage  them  as  flrongly  in  providing 
for  them,  as  legitimate  ones  ;  as  has  frequently  ap- 
peared in  the  conduct  of  the  fovereign  pontiffs ;  and 
yet  the  church  has  at  moft  but  weakly  exerted  her- 
felf  in  preventing  the  clergy  from  having  children  of 
this  kind. 


OF  WOMEN.  281 

In  the  human  breaft  there  is  not  a  paffion  fo  natu- 
ral, fo  prevalent,  as  that  which  attaches  us  to  the 
fair  fex.  The  Romifli  clergy  are  fons  of  nature; 
they  are  endowed  with  the  fame  paffions,  and  fuf- 
ceptible  of  the  fame  feelings  as  the  reit  of  her  chil- 
dren. How  then  they  mould  voluntarily  give  up 
the  gratification  of  thefe  paffions,  the  pleaiure  ari- 
fing  from  thefe  feelings,  feems,  if  it  really  were  a 
fact,  altogether  unaccountable;  but  if  we  confider 
it  only  as  a  fineffe,  we  may  guefs  at  the  motives 
which  induced  them  to  it. 


In  all  countries,  and  at  all  periods,  the  clergy, 
rather  wifer  and  more  cunning  than  the  reft  of  man- 
kind, have  arrogated  and  fecured  to  themfelves  pri- 
vileges which  were  denied  to  all  others.  Thus  the 
Romifh  clergy,  no  doubt,  confidered  the  enjoyment 
of  the  fair  fex  as  a  fource  of  the  moll  exquifite  plea- 
fure;  but  then,  in  the  way  of  matrimony,  this 
enjoyment  was  attended  with  many  inconvenien- 
ces and  difadvantages,  which  they  were  willing  to 
avoid:  they  therefore  pretended,  that  perfons  fo 
facred  as  themfelves,  were  forbid  to  enter  into  that 
flate;  but  at  the  fame  time  refolved  to  enjoy  all  the 
pleafures  arifing  from  the  commerce  with  the  other 
fex,  without  the  expence  of  a  family,  or  the  chance 
of  being  tied  to  a  difagreeable  partner.  To  effect 
this  it  was  neceiTary,  firft,  to  have  accefs  to  every 
woman  in  private;  fecondly,  to  get  into  all  the 
fecrets  of  the  fex ;  and,  thirdly,  to  have  places  ap- 
propriated, where  none  but  them  and  priefts  mould 
ever  be  furTered  to  enter.  In  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy  we  may,  therefore,  perceive  the  origin  of 
auricular  confeffion ;  a  fcheme  well  calculated  to  pro- 
mote their  licentious  purpofes,  as  it  obliged  all  the 


282  THE  HISTORY 

women,  under  pain  of  eternal  damnation,  to  difco- 
ver  every  fecret;  and  not  contented  with  denouncing 
damnation  on  her  who  concealed  any  thing,  it  pro- 
anifed  abfolution,  in  the  mod  full  and  ample  manner, 
of  every  thing  difcovered.  Thus  threatened  with 
the  greateft  of  all  eviis,  on  the  one  hand,  and  fo  eafy 
a  method  of  efcaping  it,  even  after  every  criminal 
indulgence,  held  out  on  the  other,  is  there  any  won- 
der that  women  were  frequently  prevailed  upon  to 
difcover  even  thofe  fecrets  which  the  fex  moft  cauti- 
oufly  of  all  others  conceal.  When  women  had  con- 
felfed  themfeives  guilty  of  one  or  more  faults  of  this 
kind,  it  was  natural  to  think,  that,  without  great 
difficulty,  they  might  be  prevailed  upon  to  repeat 
them  ;  and  thus  the  crafty  ions  of  the  church  were 
led  to  difcover  where  they  might  make  their  attacks 
with  the  greateil  probability  of  fuccefs;  and  they 
knew  alfo,  that  if  gentle  methods  lhould  fail,  they 
could  in  a  manner,  force  compliance,  by  threaten- 
ing to  publifh  the  former  faults  of  their  penitents. 

Being  by  thefe  fchemes,  fecured  of  admittance  to 
all  the  women,  and  polfelTed  of  all  their  fecrets, 
which  they,  no  doubt,  communicated  to  each  other, 
the  next  Itep  was  to  fecure  themfeives  from  interrup- 
tion, when  in  private  with  them.  This  was  eafily 
accomplished ;  they  had  only  to  denounce  the  ven- 
geance of  heaven  afgainft  the  daring  niifcreant,  whe- 
ther hufband,  father,  or  lover,  who  mould  facrile- 
gioufly  difturb  a  holy  lecher,  while  confefliiig  his 
penitent.  Thus  being  poiTeiTed  of  all  the  fecrets  of 
the  heart,  and  fecured  in  their  privacy  with  the  wo- 
men, with  nature  and  the  paflions  on  their  fide,  and 
pardon  and  remiilion  in  their  power;  is  it  any  won- 
der that  the  Romlih  clergy  became  fo  debauched, 
and  fo  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  fociety,  that  the 
French  and  German  laity,   jointly,    petitioned   the 


OF  WO  LI  EM.  283 

Council  of  Trent,  that  priefls  might  be  allowed  to 
marry,  and  that  their  petition  fhould  have  thefe  re- 
markable words  ?  4i  We  are  afraid  to  trull  our 
wives  and  daughters  at  confeffion,  with  men  who 
reckon  no  commerce  with  the  lex  criminal,  but  in 
wedlock." 

In  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  we  may  difcover 
alfo  the  origin  of  nunneries;  the  intrigues  they 
could  procure,  while  at  confeffion,  were  only  fhort, 
occafional,  and  with  women  who  they  could  not 
entirely  appropriate  to  themfelves;  to  remedy  which, 
they  probably  fabricated  the  fcheme  of  having  reli- 
gious houfes,  where  young  women  mould  be  fhut 
up  from  the  world,  and  where  no  man  but  a  pried, 
on  pain  of  death,  fhould  enter.  That  in  thefe  dark 
retreats,  fecluded  from  ceufure,  and  from  the  know- 
ledge of  the  world,  they  might  riot  in  licentioufnefs. 
They  were  feniible,  that  women,  furrounded  with 
the  gay  and  the  amiable,  might  frequently  fpurn  at 
the  offers  of  a  cloiftered  prieft,  but  that  while  confi- 
ned entirely  to  their  own  fex,  they  would  take 
pleafure  in  a  vifit  from  one  of  the  other,  however 
flovenly  and  unpolilhcd.  In  the  world  at  large, 
mould  the  crimes  of  the  women  be  detected,  the 
priefts  have  no  interefts  in  mitigating  their  pnniili- 
ment ;  but  here  the  whole  community  of  them  are 
interefted  in  the  fecret  of  every  intrigue,  and  mould 
Lucina  unluckily  proclaim  it,  me  can  feldom  do  it 
without  the  walls  of  the  convent,  and  if  (he  does,  the 
priefts  lay  the  crime  on  fome  lucklefs  laic,  that  the 
holy  culprit  may  come  off  with  impunity. 

Such  has  been  the  oppofition  made  by  the  clergy 
to  the  marriage  of  their  fraternity,  and  iuch  perhaps 
have  been  the  caufes  of  it;  nor  will  it  appear  to  any 
one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  hiitory  of  the  mid- 


234  THE  HISTORY 

die  ages,  that  we  cenfure  too  feverely  in  fo  faying ; 
befides,  our  cenfure  is  juilified  by  the  joint  opinion 
of  two  mighty  nations  in  their  petition,  a  part  of 
which  we  .quoted  above.  The  clergy  never  had  any 
arguments  of  confequence  to  offer  in  fupport  of  fo 
arbitrary  a  meafure;  that  of  Cardinal  Creroa, 
already  mentioned  feems  to  have  been  what  they 
made  mofl  ufe  of,  and  befides,  they  quoted  the 
authority  of  St.  Paul,  who  fays,  "  He  that  marri- 
eth  doth  well,  but  he  that  marrieth  not  doth  better." 
They  traded  mod  to  papal  authority,  and  dogmati- 
cal affertion;  but  even  in  the  ages  of  ignorance  all 
thefe  were  too  weak  to  ftifle  nature;  and  men  eafily 
faw  through  the  thin  difguife,  which  the  ilagitiouf- 
nefs  of  their  lives  often  threw  afide  without  any  cere- 
mony ;  and  belides,  they  blundered  in  making  mar- 
riage a  facrament,  and  denying  the  adminiftxation  of 
it  to  that  part  of  mankind  who  were  accounted  the 
moil  holy  of  all  others. 

As  we  have  frequently  mentioned  the  concubinage 
of  the  clergy,  we  think  it  juftice  to  take  notice  here, 
that,  however  infamous  it  became  afterwards,  it 
Was  towards  the  beginning  of  the  middle  ages  a  legal 
union,  fomething  lefs  folemn,  but  nothing  lefs  indif- 
folute  than  marriage  ;  and  that  though  a  concubine 
did  not  enjoy  the  fame  consideration  in  the  family  as 
a  wife  of  equal  rank,  (lie  enjoyed  a  confequence  and 
honour  greatly  fuperior  to  a  miilrefs.  By  the  Ro- 
man law,  when  the  want  of  birth,  or  fortune,  pro- 
hibited a  woman  from  becoming  the  wife  of  a  man  of 
family,  the  civil  law  allowed  him  to  take  her  as  a 
concubine,  and  the  children  of  fuch  concubine,  both 
at  Rome  and  amoncr  the  ancient  Franks,  were  not 
lefs  qualified,  with  the  father's  approbation,  to  inhe- 
rit, than  the  children  of  a  wife.  The  Weftern 
church,  for  feveral  centuries,  held  concubinage  of 


OF  WOMEN,    v  285 

this  kind  entirely  lawful.  The  firft  council  of  Tole- 
do exprefsly  fays,  That  a  man  mufl  have  but  one 
wife,  or  one  concubine,  at  his  option ;  and  feveral 
councils  held  at  Rome  fpeak  the  fame  language : 
but  fo  much  were  thefe  indulgences  abufed,  that 
they  were  at  laft  obliged  to  abolifh  and  declare  them 
infamous  in  every  well  regulated  rtate. 

We  fhall  now  take  our  leave  of  the  fubjecl  of 
matrimony,  with  a  few  obfervations  on  the  caufes 
of  the  frequent  difcords  and  uneafinelTes  which  arife 
in  that  ftate.  If  the  fatirical  writers  anddeclaimers 
of  the  prefent  age  may  be  credited,  married  women 
have  in  general  arrived  at  fuch  a  height  of  debauch- 
ery, that  few  marriages  are  tolerably  happy,  and 
fewer  hufbands  without  the  invifible  marks  of  a 
cuckold.  We  do  not  pretrend  to  juftify  all  the 
wives  of  the  prefent  times ;  but  on  comparing  them 
with  the  pad,  we  find  the  fame  clamours  have 
always  exifted  againfl  them;  and  without  pretending 
to  any  fpirit  of  prophecy,  we  may  venture  to  affirm, 
that  they  will  exift  fo  long  as  marriages  are  contracted 
foleiy  with  a  view  to  the  interefl  of  the  parties,  with- 
out conftdering  whether  they  are  poffeiTed  of  any  of 
the  qualifications  necelfary  to  render  each  other  hap- 
py ;  a  fcheme  by  which,  tempers  the  moil  difcord- 
ant  are  frequently  joined  together,  though  neither 
of  them  are  fo  bad,  but  they  might  have  made 
good  hufbands  and  wives,  if  they  had  been  matched 
with  propriety. 

But  this  is  far  from  being  the  only  reafon  to 
which  we  attribute  many  of  the  unhappy  marriages 
of  this  country  ;  the  bafis  of  them  is  laid  and  e(ta~ 
blifhed  in  the  education  of  our  young  women,  as 
well  as  in  the  manners  and  cuftoms  of  our  young 
men.     Young  women,    inftead  of  being  taught  to 

vol.  II.  O  o 


286  THE  HISTORY 

mix  the  agreeable  with  the  ufeful,  are  early  inflruct- 
ed  to  cultivate  only  the  former,  and  to  confider  the 
latter  as  fit  for  none  but  maiden  aunts,  and  other 
antiquated  monitors  :  but  this  is  not  all,  flattered  by 
the  men  from  their  earliefl  infancy,  they  are  never 
accuftomed  to  the  voice  of  truth,  nor  to  that  plain- 
dealing  which  mud  unavoidably  take  place  in  the 
married  (late ;  conftantly  accuftomed  to  fee  a  lover 
accoft  them  with  the  monVfubmiflive  air,  to  find  him 
yield  every  point,  and  conform  himfelf  entirely  to 
their  will,  they  confider  themfelves  as  oracles  of 
wifdom,  always  in  the  right ;  taught  to  form  their 
ideas  of  the  hufband  only  from  thofe  of  the  lover, 
and  the  ridiculous  notions  imbibed  from  romances  ; 
they  enter  into  the  married  (fate  fully  convinced  that 
every  hufband  is  through  life  to  play  the  lover,  and 
that  every  lover  is  the  romantic  being  depicted  in 
the  novels  which  they  have  read, — ideal  fancies  and 
dreams,  which  mull  foon  vanim  in  difappointment. 
Nor  do  the  men  act  more  wifely ;  blinded  for  the 
mofl  part  by  love,  they  confider  the  object,  of  their 
paffion  as  all  perfection  and  excellence;  and  when 
they  come  to  be  undeceived,  as  every  lover  foon 
mult,  remorfe  and  chagrine  four  their  tempers,  and 
make  them  incapable  of  forgiving  the  cheat  they 
think  impofed  upon  them,  or  behaving  with  that 
degree  of  gentlenefs  with  which  the  flronger  fex 
mould  regard  the  foibles,  and  even  fome  of  the  fol- 
lies, of  the  weaker. 

Every  one  who  has  been  attentive  to  what  paffcs 
in  other  nations,  and  to  what  happens  here,  before 
and  after  marriage,  muft  readily  agree,  that  nothing- 
can  be  more  certain  than  the  truth  of  the  old  faying, 
Too  much  familiarity  breeds  contempt.  In  order  to 
infpire  and  preferve  refpect,  it  is  neceiTary  for  kin.;.', 
and  other  great  men  to  wear  eniigns  of  grandeur, 


OF  WOMEN.  287 

and  to  be  attended  with  guards ;  for  judges  to  be 
arrayed  in  the  fymbols  of  folemnity  and  wifdom,  and 
for  learned  men  never  to  be  too  free  in  opening  the 
depth  of  their  knowledge.  The  cafe  is  exactly  the 
fame  with  women,  and  they  feem  fenfible  of  it  be- 
fore marriage,  but  infenfible  of  it  afterward ;  before 
marriage,  we  are  feldom  permitted  to  fee  them  but 
in  their  gay  and  fplendid  drefs,  and  in  their  moft 
cheerful  and  lively  humour ;  we  enter  not  into  the 
penetralium  of  their  weakneffes;  we  difcover  none 
of  their  faults,  and  but  few  of  their  foibles :  but 
after  marriage,  they  precipitately  throw  alide  the 
malic,  in  fuch  a  manner  as  to  difcover  that  they  wore 
it  only  for  conveniency;  and  an  intimacy  with  them 
opens  to  the  hufband,  views  which  could  not  poffi- 
bly  fall  within  the  infpe£Hon  of  the  lover  ;  and  hence 
his  ideas  of  the  fame  woman  when  his  miitrefs  and 
his  wife,  are  fo  widely  different. 

In  endeavouring  to  explore  the  fources  of  conju- 
gal infelicity,  we  may  likewife  obferve,  that  few 
men  have  fo  fuccefsfully  ftudied  the  temper  of  wo- 
men, as  to  be  able  to  manage  it  to  the  beft  advan- 
tage. It  has  long  been  an  obfervation  of  the  fair; 
that  a  reformed  rake  makes  the  heft  hufoand;  and 
we  have  known  inflances  where  women,  after  hav- 
ing made  but  indifferent  wives  to  men  of  probity  and 
virtue,  who  feldom  committed  any  faults,  have  after- 
ward made  much  better  ones  to  rakifh  young  fellows, 
whofe  whole  lives  confided  in  finning  and  repenting. 
The  reafon  is  plain;  fuch  is  the  conftitution  of 
female  nature,  that  a  little  well-timed  flattery  and 
fubmifhon  will  feldom  fail  of  putting  them  into  good 
humour ;  whereas  the  mofl  faultlefs  and  prudent 
conduct,  cannot  always  keep  them  in  it.  A  woman, 
by  the  affiftance  of  a  few  tender  careffes,  and  pro- 
teftations  of  future  amendment,  will  frequently  be 


28&  THE  HISTORY 

prevailed  on  to  forgive  ten  thoufand  faults,  if  the  is 
perfuaded  that  her  hufband  loves  her  in  the  inter- 
vals of  his  folly;  butfhe  will  never  forgive  indiffer- 
ence, nor  contempt.  Hence  many  of  the  molt 
learned  and  fenfible  men  are  reckoned  the  worft  huf- 
bands,  becaufe  they  have  more  friendfhip  than  love, 
and  more  of  both  than  they  exprefs ;  and  many  of 
the  mod  wild  and  rakiili  reckoned  the  befl,  becaufe 
they  have  more  love  than  friendship,  and  exprefs 
more  of  them  both  than  they  feel. 

Thefe,  and  feveral  others  too  tedious  to  mention 
in  iketches  of  this  nature,  feem  to  be  the  fources 
from  which  matrimonial  infelicity  fo  often  arifes; 
but  would  the  parties  come  together  with  lefs  exalt- 
ed notions  of  each  other;  would  they  lay  their  ac- 
count with  finding  in  each  other  a  mixture  of  human 
weaknelfes  as  well  as  perfections ;  and  would  they 
mutually  forgive  faults  and  weaknefTes,  matrimony 
would  not  be  fo  fraught  with  evils,  and  fo  difturb- 
ed  with  flrife.  It  is  the  ox  that  frets  who  galls  his 
own  neck  and  that  of  his  fellow  with  the  yoke, 
while  the  pair  who  draw  quietly  and  equally,  fcarcely 
feel  it  inconvenient  or  troublelome. 


OFWOME  N, 


CHAPTER    XXX. 


Of  Widowhood. 


A; 


.S  the  date  of  matrimony  is  of  ail  others 
the  mod  honourable,  and  ihe  mod  defired  by  wo- 
men, fo  that  of  widowhood  is  generally  the  moft 
deplorable,  and  confequently  the  object  of  their 
greated  averfion. 

Women,  by  nature  weak,  are  not  able  to  defend 
themfelves  againft  the  infults  and  outrages  of  man ; 
the  fame  weaknefs  incapacitates  them  for  maintain- 
ing themfelves  either  by  the  means  of  fifhing  and 
hunting,  practifed  among  the  rude  nations,  or  even 
by  the  padurage  and  agriculture  of  thofe  that  are 
more  polite  :  to  launch  out  into  trade  and  commerce 
would  require,  perhaps,  more  indudry,  and  more 
fteady  efforts  of  mind,  than  are  confident  with  their 
volatile  natures  and  finer  feelings,  and  would,  befides, 
expofe  them  to  many  affaults,  which  even  the  fevered 
virtue  might  not  always  be  able  to  repel.  On  thefe. 
and  a  variety  of  other  accounts,  we  find  women 
commonly  dependent  on  the  men  for  the  two  im- 
portant articles,  maintenance  and  protection  :  while 
young,  they  are  under  the  protection  of  their  parents 
or  guardians,  who  are  likewife  to  provide  for  them, 
or  at  lead  to  fuperintend  the  management  both  of 
their  fortunes  and  conduct :  when  they  enter  into 
matrimony,  they  put  themfelves  under  the  protec- 
tion and  guardianfhip  of  a  hufband  ;  but  when  they 
become  widows,  no  perfon  is  henceforth  fo  much 
intercded  in   their  welfare,    no  perfon,.  is  legally 


2yo  THE  HISTORY 

bound  to  defend  or  to  maintain  them ;  and  hence 
their  diflike  to  that  forlorn  condition. 

But  there  are  other  caufes  befide  thefe,  which 
ftrongly  contribute  to  heighten  this  diflike.  In  the 
bloom  of  virginity,  though  a  woman  may  not  be 
very  hsndfome,  yet  there  is  always  in  youth  and  the 
prime  of  life  fomething  in  her  thatattrafts  the  atten- 
tion and  procures  the  good  offices  of  the  men,  and 
confequently  the  chance  of  a  hufband  is  confidera- 
ble.  But  when  a  woman  has  been  married,  and  is 
become  a  widow,  me  is  generally  pad:  the  bloom  of 
life,  and  has  loll,  by  the  bearing  of  children  and  care 
of  a  family,  a  great  part  of  thofe  charms  which  pro- 
cured her  a  hufband  ;  and  on  this,  and  feveral  other 
accounts,  is  not  fo  likely  to  fucceed  in  getting  ano- 
ther ;  and,  as  the  fex  have  a  ilrong  proclivity  to 
the  joys  of  love,  which  matrimony  only  can  procure 
them  with  reputation,  we  need  not  wonder  at  the 
readinefs  with  which  they  enter  into,  and  the  reluct- 
ance they  feel  in  quitting,  that  flate. 

Thus  the  condition  of  widowhood,  in  the  politefl 
countries,  is  attended  with  many  difadvantages :  in 
rude  and  barbarous  ones,  thefe  difadvantages  are 
Mill  more  numerous  and  more  grievous.  The  facred 
records,  and  indeed  thehiftory  of  all  antiquity,  give 
the  flrongeft  reafons  to  fufpeft,  that  widows  were 
often  the  prey  of  the  lawlefs  tyrant,  who  fpoiled 
them  with  impunity,  becaufe  they  had  none  to  help 
them.  In  many  places  of  the  fcripture,  as  well  as 
of  prophane  authors,  we  frequently  find  the  Mate  of 
the  widow  and  the  fatherlefs  depicted  as  of  all  others 
themoft  forlorn  and  miferable ;  and  men  of  honour 
and  probity,  in  recounting  their  own  good  actions, 
making  a  merit  of  their  having  forborne  from  def- 

iling  the  widow  and  the  fatherlefs.     In  the  book 


OF  WOMEN.  291 

of  Exodus  it  is  declared  as  a  law,  "  That  ye  fliaii 
not  afflict  the  widow,  or  the  fatherlefs  child  :  if  thou 
afflict  them  in  any  ways,  and  they  cry  unto  me,  I 
will  furely  hear  their  cry  ;  and  my  wrath  mall  wax 
hot,  and  I  will  kill  you  with  the  fword,  and  your 
wives  lliall  be  widows,  and  your  children  fatherlefs." 
In  the  eighth  century,  one  of  the  canon  laws  enacted, 
That  none  mall  prelume  to  diilurb  widows,  orphans, 
and  weak  people  ;  all  of  which  create  a  flrong  fui- 
picion,  that  widows  were  often  opprefTed  ;  other- 
wife,  why  fo  many  taws  for  their  particular  pro- 
tection ?  But  to  men  who  live  in  happier  times, 
when  laws  extend  an  equal  protection  to  all,  and 
when  humanity  di&ates  finer  feelings  than  thofe  of 
triumphing  over  weak  and  helplefs  beings,  fuch  laws 
appear  fuperfluous  and  unnatural ;  and  the  caufes 
of  promulgating  them  can  only  be  cleared  up,  by 
confidering  the  manners  and  cufioms  of  the  times  in 
which  they  were  inflituted. 

One  of  the  mod  ancient  of  all  the  cufioms  of  an- 
tiquity feerns  to  have  been  that  of  revenging  injuries, 
or,  as  the  fcripture  calls  it,  avenging  of  blood.  In 
the  dawn  of  fociety,  the  privileges  of  maintaining 
their  property,  and  revenging  the  wrongs  either  done 
to  that  or  their  perfons,  were  the  rights  of  nature, 
and  belonged  only  to  individuals ;  nor  is  it  flretching 
the  point  to  fay,  that  this  privilege,  or  law,  was 
prior  to  Mofes,  and  that  he  probably  borrowed  it 
from  fome  of  the  neighbouring  nations.  By  this 
law  or  cuflom,  which  feems  to  have  been  eflablifhed 
among  every  people  not  thoroughly  cultivated,  when 
any  perfon  was  killed,  the  neareft  relation  only  was 
empowered  to  take  vengeance  on  the  murderer ; 
which  vengeance  he  was  at  liberty  to  execute  with 
his  own  hand  :  but  as  this  could  feldom  or  never  be 
done  but  at  the  rifque  of  life,  it  often  happened,  that  a 


292  THE  HISTORY 

•widow  or  an  orphan  might  be  murdered  with  impu- 
nity, as  there  was  no  perfon.  fo  nearly  related  to 
either,  as  to  venture  his  life  in  taking  vengeance  on 
the  murderer  ;  and  as  the  public  was  not  then  fo 
connected  into  a  whole,  as  to  difcover  that  it  dif- 
fered any  damage  from  the  Jofs  of  an  individual. 
But  befides  this,  as  widows  and  orphans  have  not 
friends  fo  nearly  interested  in  their  property,  as 
women  who  have  hufbands,  and  children  who  have 
fathers  ;  and  as,  among  uncultivated  people,  that 
which  is  not  defended  by  Strength  has  hardly  any 
barrier  around  it,  widows  and  orphans,  in  the  times 
of  ancient  barbarity,  were  liable  to  bcfrequently 
wronged,  opprefTed,  and  plundered.  Hence  the 
dreadful  misfortune  of  being  in  any  of  thefe  condi- 
tions; and  hence,  alfo,  the  fuperior  virtue  of  not 
only  refilling  the  temptation  of  plundering  them, 
but  of  pleading  their  caufe,  in  times  when  the  exer- 
tions of  humanity  were  but  weak,  and  the  tempta- 
tion of  acquiring  even  a  little,  exceedingly  Strong. 

When  we  confider  the  manners  and  cuftoms  of  the 
favage  nations  of  our  own  times,  we  are  prefentcd 
with  a  picture  nearly  refembling  that  of  the  periods 
we  have  juft  now  mentioned.  There,  as  weaknefs 
is  not  protected  by  the  laws,  to  he  allied  to  power- 
ful relations  and  friends,  or  to  be  joined  in  fome 
formidable  party,  are  its  only  fecurities  againSt  rapine 
and  violence.  To  be  thought  worthy  of  the  pro- 
tection of  fuch  friend-;,  or  of  fuch  a  party,  it  is 
necelfary  either  to  be  able  to  mare  in  their  common 
dangers,  or  to  be  ufeful  to  them  in  fome  other  man- 
ner. Widows  and  orphans  are  frequently  incapa- 
ble of  either:  hence,  among  fuch  people,  they 
are  defpifed  and  neglected,  if  not  plundered  and 
devoured,  by  the  hand  of  the  oppreffor;  circumstan- 
ces, which  nowhere  happen  more  frequently  than 


OF  WOMEN.  293 

in  Greenland;  a  climate  fo  extremely  barren,  that 
almoil  the  whole  of  "their  fubfiftence  muft  be  drawn 
from  the  fea ;  and  when  they  cannot  derive  it  from 
thence,  as  is  frequently  the  cafe  in  ftormy  weather, 
then  women,  who  are  in  general  but  little  regarded, 
fall  the  firft  victims  of  famine.  But  mould  no  fuch 
accident  happen,  widows,  who  are  left  without 
fons  come  to  age  and  ftrength  enough  to  fim,  and 
catch  feals  for  them,  are  always  in  the  mofl  deplo- 
rable condition;  for  the  whole  riches  of  a  Green- 
lander  confifts  in  his  little  flock  of  provifions;  and 
fuch  is  the  barbarous  cuitom  of  the  country,  that 
when  he  dies,  the  neighbours,  who  affemble  to 
bury  him,  feldom  or  never  depart  from  his  hut,  till 
they  have  confumed  the  whole  of  that  (lock,  and 
left  the  widow  to  inhabit  the  bare  walls.  In  fo  hor- 
rid a  climate,  and  on  fo  flormy  an  ocean,  it  is  but 
little  a  woman  can  procure  ;  me  is  therefore  obliged 
to  fubfift  by  the  cold  hand  of  charity  ;  in  Greenland 
much  colder,  than  where  the  blood  and  kindlier  Spi- 
rits are  fanned  by  a  more  benevolent  atmofphere, 
and  warmed  by  a  more  refplendent  fun.  Hence  it 
frequently  happens,  that  the  pieces  of  feals  or  of 
whale-blubber  thrown  to  her,  hardly  fuflain  a 
wretched  exiflence,  or  entirely  fail;  when,  neglect- 
ed and  unpitied  by  all  around  her,  me  expires  by 
hunger  and  by  cold. 

Among  many  of  the  ancients,  widows  were,  either 
by  law  or  by  cuftom,  reilricted  from  having  a  fecond 
hufband.  Almoft  over  all  the  Eafl,  and  araon? 
many  tribes  of  the  Tartars,  wives  were  fuppofed  to 
ferve  their  hufbands  as  well  in  the  next  world  as  in 
this ;  and  as  every  wife  there  was  to  be  the  fole  pro- 
perty of  herfirft  hufband,  fhe  could  never  obtain  a 
fecond,  becaufe  he  could  only  fecure  to  himfelf  her 
fervice  in  this  life.     After  the  Greeks  became  fenfi- 

vol.  11.  Pp 


THE  HISTOfl  i 

ble  of  the  benefits  arifing  from  the  regulation  of 
Cecrops  cdncerning  matrimony,  they  conceived  fo 
higl>an  idea  of  them,  that  they  affixed  a  degree  of 
infamy  on  the  woman  who  married  a  fecond  huf- 
band,  even  after-the  death  of  the  rirft ;  and  it  wa 
more  than  two  centuries  after  the  death  of  Cecrops, 
before  any  woman  dared  to  make  the  attempt. — 
Their  hiftory  has  even  tranfmitted  to  pofterity,  with 
fome  degree  of  infamy,  the  name  of  her,  who  firft 
ventured  on  a  fecond  marriage.  It  was  Gorgopho- 
na,  the  daughter  of  Perfeus  and  Andromeda,  who 
began  the  practice  ;  a  practice,  which,  though  foon 
after  followed  by  others,  could  not,  even  by  the 
multitude  of  its  votaries,  be  fcreened  from  the  pub- 
lie  odium  ;  for,  during  a  great  part  of  the  heroic 
ages,  widows  who  remarried  were  confidered  as 
having  offended  againft  public  decency;  a  cuflom  to 
which  Virgil  plainly  alludes,  when  he  defcribes  the 
conflict  in  the  breaft  of  Dido,  between  her  love  for 
iEneas,  and  fear  of  wounding  her  honour  by  a  fecond 
marriage:  nay,  fo  fcrupulous  were  the  Greeks  about 
fecond  marriages,  that  in  fome  circumftances  they 
were  hardly  allowed  to  the  men.  Charonidas  exclu- 
ded all  thofe  from  the  public  councils  of  the  Hate, 
who  had  children,  and  married  a  fecond  wife. — 
'•;  It  is  impoffible  (laid  he)  that  a  man  can  advife  well 
for  his  country,  who  does  not  confult  the  good  of 
his  own  family :  he  whole  firft  marriage  has  been 
happy,  ought  to  reft  fatisfied  with  that  happinefs ;  if 
unhappy,  he  mult  be  out  of  his  femes  to  rifque 
beimi.  fo  again." 


*t> 


Among  fome  nations,    as  the  ancient  Jews,    and 

Chriftians  of  the  primitive  ages,  there  were  certain 

orders  of  men,  who  were  not  allowed  to  join  them- 

felves  in  marriage  with  widows.  Every  prieft  of  the 

was  to  take  a  wife  in  her  virginity  ;  a  widow, 


OF  WOMEN.  295 

or  a  divorced  woman,  or  prophane,  or  an  harlot, 
thefe  he  fhall  not  take ;  but  he  fhall  take  a  virgin  of 
his  own  people  to  wife.  And  Pope  Syricus,  copy- 
ing the  example  let  by  Mofes,  ordained,  that  if  a 
bifhop  married  a  widow,  or  took  a  iecorid  wife,  he 
fhould  be  degraded.  It  is  fomewhat  remarkable, 
that  Mofes  fhould  have  put  widows  on  the  fame  fcale 
with  harlots  and  prophane  women  :  an  arrange- 
ment which  greatly  degraded  them,  and  which  muft 
doubtlefs  have  depended  on  fome  opinion  or  cuftom, 
of  which  we  are  now  entirely  ignorant.  We  are 
almofl  as  little  acquainted  with  the  reafon  why  the 
clergy  of  the  middle  ages  were  prohibited  from  mar- 
rying widows;  for,  befides  the  prohibition  of  Syri- 
cus, which  only  extended  to  bifhops,  the  church 
afterwards  iffued  many  others  of  the  fame  nature, 
which  extended  in  time  to  all  men  in  holy  orders. 
In  the  year  400,  we  find  it  decreed  in  the  Cyprian 
Council,  that  if  a  reader  married  a  widow,  he  fhould 
never  be  preferred  in  the  church  ;  and  that  if  a  hib- 
deacon  did  the  fame,  he  mould  be  degraded  to  a 
door-keeper  or  reader. 

As  the  Egyptians  were  the  firft  people  who  treat- 
ed women  with  propriety,  and  allowed  them  to  enjoy 
the  common  rights  of  nature,  they  were  not  even 
unmindful  of  their  widows,  but  protected  them  by 
their  laws,  and  allowed  them  a  proper  maintenance 
from  the  effects  of  their  hufbands.  The  Greeks, 
who  derived  their  laws  from  ancient  Egypt,  likewife 
allowed  their  widows  a  dowry  for  their  fubfiftence ; 
but  if  they  had  any  children,  and  married  a  fecond 
hatband,  they  could  carry  to  him  none  of  the  dower 
of  the  firft.  Among  the  Romans,  when  a  man 
died  inteftate,  and  without  children,  his  widow  was 
the  fole  heirefs  of  his  fortune;  and  if  he  left  chil- 
dren fhe  had  an  equal  fhare  with  them  of  all  that 


296  THE  HISTORY 

belonged  to  him.  In  the  middle  ages,  when  it  was 
cuftomary  for  creditors  to  feize  upon  and  fell  the 
wives  and  children  of  a  debtor,  they  were  not  em- 
powered to  take  his  widow:  the  connection  was  dif- 
iolved,  and  (lie  was  no  longer  his  property;  though 
her  fons  and  daughters  were,  and  might  be  taken 
and  fold  accordingly.  In  the  eleventh  century,  the 
church  began  to  efpoufe  the  caufe  of  widows,  and 
required  a  promife  from  penitents,  before  fhe  would 
give  them  abfolution,  that  they  would  not  hence- 
forth hurt  the  widow  and  the  fatherlefs.  Among 
the  Franks,  it  was  cuftomary  to  pay  to  the  bride  a 
fmall  fum  of  money,  by  way  of  purchafe  :  this  fum 
was  commonly  a  fol  and  a  denier  to  a  maiden;  but 
to  a  widow  three  golden  fols  and  a  denier  were 
requifite;  becaufe,  all  women  belides  widows  being 
under  perpetual  guardianfhip,  marriage  made  no 
change  in  the  liberty  of  a  maiden;  whereas  a  widow 
parted  with  the  liberty  fhe  had  gained  by  the  death 
of  her  hufband,  when  (lie  joined  herfelf  to  a  fecond. 

The  melancholy  ceremonies  of  mourning  have,  in 
all  ages  and  countries,  been  more  particularly  allot- 
ted to  women,  as  the  bell:  fitted  for  them,  not  only 
by  the  fympathetic  feelings,  but  alfo  by  their  greater 
readinefs  in  calling  forth  thefe  feelings  almoil  at 
pleafure.  "Widows,  however,  whether  from  a 
fenfe  of  the  almoil  unfpeakable  lofs  they  fuilain  by 
the  death  of  a  hufband,  or  from  fome  other  reafons 
known  to  themfelves  only,  have  generally,  in  thofe 
folcmn  ceremonies,  gone  greater  lengths  than  the 
reft  of  their  fex.  Jewifh  widows  mourned  the 
death  of  their  hufbands,  at  lead  for  the  fpace  of  ten 
months,  and  were  reckoned  iliamefully  abandoned, 
if  they  married  again  within  that  time.  Aim  oft 
every  civilized  people  have  in  fome  degree  copied 
this  example;  fome  allotting  a  longer,    and  fome  a 


OF   WOMEN.  297 

fliorter  time  to  the  mourning  of  widows,  and  all 
agreeing  to  mark  them  with  infamy,  if  they  married 
again  too  foon.  Moil  legislators,  finding  widows 
rather  too  prompt  to  enter  into  fecond  marriages, 
fixed  a  certain  time  within  which  they  mould  not 
marry.  The  Romans,  contrary  to  the  practice  of 
all  other  nations,  fixed  the  time  in  which  widowers 
fhould  marry.  The  Julians  firft  allowed  three  years, 
afterwards  but  one.  The  Papians  gave  them  two. 
In  the  eleventh  century  the  church  decreed,  that  a 
widow  fhould  not  marry  within  the  fpace  of  one  year 
after  the  death  of  her  hufband.  '  The  laws  of  Gene- 
va have  fhortened  this  period  to  half  a  year,  and  in 
molt  civilized  countries  it  is  mere  regulated  by  cuf- 
tom  than  by  law. 

It  was  formerly  the  cuftom  in  Scotland1,  and  in 
Spain,  for  widows  to  wear  the  drefe  of  mourners 
until  death,  or  a  fecond  husband  put  an  end  to  the 
ceremony.  In  the  latter,  the  widow  palled  the  firfl 
year  of  her  mourning  in  a  chamber  hung  with  black, 
into  which  day-light  was  never  fufFered  to  enter: 
when  this  year  was  ended,  flie  changed  this  dark 
and  dimial  fcene  for  a  chamber  hung  with  grey,  into 
which  flie  admitted  the  fun-beams  fometimes  to  pene- 
trate ;  but  neither  in  her  black  nor  grey  chamber 
did  cuftom  allow  her  looking  glalTes,  nor  cabinets, 
nor  plate,  nor  any  thing  but  the  moil  plain  and 
necelTary  furniture  ;  nor  was  fhe  to  have  jewels  on 
her  perfbn,    nor  to  wear  any  colour  but  black.*— 

*  We  are  fo  much  accuftomed  in  Europe  to  fee  mourners 
dreffed  in  black,  that  we  have  affixed  a  melancholy  idea  to  that 
colour.  Black  is  not,  however,  univerfally  appropriated  to  this 
purpofe.  The  drefs  of  the  Chinefe  mourners  is  white  ;  that  of 
the  Turks  blue  ;  of  the  Peruvians  a  moufe  colour  ;  of  the  Egyp- 
tians yellow,  and  in  fome  of  their  provinces  green,  and  puiple 
is  at  prefent  made  ufe  of  as  the  mourning  drefs  of  kings  and 
cardinals. 


298  THE  HISTORY 

The  faultlefs  victim,  is,  however,  immediately  dif- 
charged  from  her  gloomy  prifon,  if  flie  is  lucky 
enough  to  get  afecond  hufband,  and  (he  frequently 
lays  herfelf  out  for  one,  as  much  with  a  view  to 
efcape  from  her  confinement,  as  on  account  of  reite- 
rating the  joys  of  wedlock. 

Among  nations  lefs  cultivated,  the  idea  of  what 
a  widow  ought  to  undergo  on  the  lofs  of  her  husband, 
has  been  carried  to  a  length,  in  fome  refpeefs,  more 
unreafonable  than  in  Spain.  The  Mulkohge  fava- 
ges  in  America  allot  her  the  tedious  fpace  of  four 
years  to  chaflity  and  to  mourning,  and  the  Chikka- 
jfah  dedicate  three  to  the  fame  purpoics;  this,  howe- 
ver, on  the  part  of  the  women  is  not  voluntary,  but 
complied  with  only  to  fave  them  from  the  punifh- 
ment  of  adulterers,  to  which  they  would  be  lia- 
ble if  they  acted  otherwife.  To  this  mourning  and 
continency  are  added  particular  auil.eritics;  every 
evening  and  morning,  during  the  firft  year,  a  wi- 
dow is  obliged,  by  cultom,  to  lament  her  lofs  in  loud 
and  lugubrious  drains,  and  if  her  husband  was  a 
war-chief,  me  is  alfo  obliged,  during  the  firft  moon, 
to  fit  the  whole  day  under  his  war-pole,*  and  there 
incefTantly  bewail  her  lofs  in  loud  lamentations,  with- 
out any  melter  from  the  heat,  the  cold,  or  whate- 
ver weather  fhall  happen;  a  ceremony  fo  rigid  and 
fevere,  that  not  a  fewrin  the  performance  of  it,  not- 
withflanding  the  natural  hardinefs  of  their  conflitu- 
tions,  fall  victims  to  the  various  diflempers  which 
then  attack  them,  and  to  which  they  are  not  allow- 
ed to  pay  any  regard,  till  the  ceremony  is  ended. 
This  cuftom,  according  to  the  Indians,  was  inftitu- 

*  This  war-pole  is  a  tree  ftuck.  in  the  ground,  the  top  and 
branches  cut  off,  is  painted  red,  and  all  the  weapons  and  tro- 
phies of  war  which  belonged  to  the  deceafed  are  hung  on  it,  and 
remain  there  till  they  rot. 


OF  WOMEN.  29? 

ted,  not  only  to  hinder  women  from  taking  any  me- 
thods to  deftroy,  but  alfo  to  induce  them  to  do  all  in 
their  power  to  preferve  the  lives  of  their  husbands. 
Befides  this,  there  may  be  other  reafons.  It  was 
anciently  confidered  as  one  of  the  greater!  cf  misfor- 
tunes to  die  unlamented ;  a  circumfhmce  which  the 
facred  records,  and  the  hiftorians  and  poets  of  anti- 
quity frequently  allude  to,  and  which  is  at  this  day 
a  cuftom  in  many  parts  of  the  Indies,  and  exifts  alfo 
in  Wales,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  in  fome  of  the 
northern  parts  of  which,  nothing  would  more  dif- 
turb  a  chieftain  when  alive,  than  to  think  that  his 
funeral  dirge  would  not  be  fung  by  his  dependants 
when  dead  ;  perhaps,  therefore,  this  long  and  pain- 
ful mourning  of  the  American  widows  was  initituted 
to  prevent  the  illufive  evil  of  dying  unlamented. 

But  this  painful  ceremony,  and  this  long  celibacy 
of  the  Mufkohge  and  Chikkafah  widows  is  not  all 
that  they  are  condemned  to  fuller ;  the  law  obliges 
them  alfo,  during  the  continuance  of  their  weeds, 
to  abflain  from  all  kinds  of  diverfion,  and  from  all 
public  company,  to  go  with  their  hair  negligent  and 
diiheveiled,  and  to  deny  themfelves  the  enchanting 
pleafure  of  anointing  it  with  greafe  or  oil  \  the  ob- 
fervance  of  all  which  is  enforced  by  the  neareft  of 
kin  to  the  deceafed  hufband,  who  keeps  a  watchful 
eye  over  the  conducT:  of  his  widow,  hecaufe,  mould 
ihe  fail  in  any  particular  of  the  duty  we  have  men- 
tioned, Hie  would  thereby  bring  the  mod  indeliable 
ilain  on  the  memory  of  the  deceafed,  and  the  honour 
of  his  family.  Through  the  whole  of  their  widow- 
hood, the  women  continue  to  mourn  their  loft  huf- 
bands,  and  in  their  lamentations  conftantly  call  on 
them  by  name,  efpecially  when  they  go  out  to  work 
in  the  morning,  and  when  they  return  in  the  even- 
ing, at  which  time  the  whole  company  of  maids  and 


300  THE  HISTORY 

and  widows  join  in  a  melancholy  chorus,  making 
the  hills  and  dales  reverberate  the  funebral  found. 
Hufbands,  however,  never  weep  for  their  wives — 
"  Tears,  fay  they,  do  not  become  men ;  it  is  only 
women  that  ought  to  weep  ;"  and  we  may  add, 
that  in  America  they  frequently  have  great  reafonfo 
to  do,  for  if  the  friends  of  a  widow  cannot  find  a 
husband  for  her,  add  if  {he  has  no  fons  of  age  to 
procure  her  the  means  of  fubfiftence,  her  condition 
is  but  wretched  and  miferabie ;  what  little  charity 
fhe  receives  is  often  given  with  an  ill  grace,  and  at 
laft  fhe  is  frequently  in  no  fmall  danger  of  perifhing 
for  want. 

Such  are  the  feverities  which  mark  the  fate  of  wi- 
dows among  the  favages  of  America ;  but  hard  as 
we  may  reckon  all  thefe  unmerited  fufferlngs  and 
aufterities,  they  are  lenient  and  tender,  when  com- 
pared to  what  widows  in  feveral  parts  of  Africa  are 
obliged  to  undergo.  In  that  country  of  tyranny  and 
defpotifm,  wives  and  concubines  are  not  only  doomed 
to  be  the  flaves  of  their  husbands  in  this  world,  but, 
according  to  their  opinion,  in  the  next  alfo  ;  the 
husband,  therefore,  is  no  fooner  dead,  than  his 
wives,  concubines,  fervants,  and  even  fometimes 
horfes,  riftlft  be  ftrangled,  in  order  to  render  him 
the  fame  fervices  in  the  other  world  which  they  did 
in  this.  At  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  widows 
are  lefs  effeemed  than  virgins,  in  order  that  they 
may  not  impofe  themfelves  on  the  men  forfuch,  they 
are  obliged  by  law  to  cut  off  a  joint  from  a  finger 
for  every  husband  that  dies ;  this  joint  they  prefent 
to  their  new  husband  on  the  day  of  their  marriage. 
In  the  Iflhmus  of  Darien,  both  fexes  were  formerly 
obliged  to  obferve  this  cuftom,  that  none  of  them 
might  impofe  themfelves  on  each  other  for  what  they 
were  not ;  or  according  to  fome  authors,  which  is 


OFWOME  N.  301 

not  lefs  probable,  it  was  their  marriage  ceremony, 
by  which  they  were  affianced  to  each  Other.  We 
have  already  feen  that  widows  are  in  feverai  places 
neglected,  and  allowed  at  lead  to  fall  a  prey  to 
famine ;  but  in  Darien,  the  barbarity  is  carried 
much  farther ;  when  a  widow  dies,  fuch  of  her 
children  as  are  too  young  to  provide  fubliflence  for 
themfelves  are  buried  with  her  in  the  fame  grave,  no 
one  being  willing  to  take  the  charge  of  them,  and 
the  community  not  being  fo  far  ripened  as  to  difcover 
that  the  lofs  of  every  individual  is  a  lofs  to  the  (late. 
Such  is  the  favage  barbarity  of  African  and  Ameri- 
can policy  ;  a  barbarity  which  can  only  be  exceeded 
by  what  we  are  going  to  relate  of  the  Hindoos,  or 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  and 
fome  other  parts  of  the  Eafl  Indies. 

Befides  the  remarkable  cuftom  of  making  every 
woman  a  prifoner  for  life,  the  Afiatics  prefent  us  with 
ilill  more  extraordinary,  and,  if  poffible,  more  re- 
pugnant to  human  nature.  The  Hindoos  do  not 
bury  their  dead  after  the  manner  of  many  other 
nations,  but  burn  their  bodies  upon  a  large  pile  of 
wood  erected  for  the  purpofe ;  upon  this  pile  the 
mod  beloved  wife,  and  in  fome  places  it  is  laid,  all 
the  wives  of  great  men  are  obliged  to  devote  them- 
felves to  the  flames  which  confume  the  body  of  their 
hu  [bands. 

This  cruel  and  inhuman  cuftom  having  exifted 
among  them  from  the  remotefl:  antiquity,  its  origin 
is  dark  and  uncertain,  though  they  generally  give 
the  following  account  of  it.  The  Hindoo  wives 
having  in  ancient  times  become  fo  wicked  and  aban- 
doned, as  to  make  a  common  practice  of  poifoning 
their  hulbands  whenever  they  difplealed  them ;  feve- 
rai methods  were  in  vain  attempted  to  remedy  the 

vol.  it.  Q^q 


302  THE  HISTORY 

evil,  when  at  laft  the  men  found  themfelves  under  a 
neceffity  of  enacting  a  law,  That  every  Hindoo  wife 
fhould  be  burned  to  death  on  the  funeral  pile  of  her 
dead  hufband;  a  mod:  effectual,    though  dreadful, 
remedy  to  prevent  the  mod  norrid  of  crimes.       If 
there  is  any  truth  in  this  caui"e,  and  the  law  which 
was  the  confequence  of  it,    it  has  to  fome  feemed 
ilrange  that  obedience  to  that  law  was  not  enforced 
by  any  penalty;  but  this  is  not  in  the  lead:  drange  or 
unaccountable,  for  it  would  be  abiurd  to  enforce  the 
execution  of  a  law  by  a  penalty,    when  no  penalty 
could  be  devifed  fo  dreadful  as  the  execution  of  the 
law  itfelf.     The  Hindoos  took  a  more  effectual  me- 
thod, they  did  not  drag  the  victim:,  to  the  pile  like 
criminals  to  execution,  but  prevailed  upon  them  to 
oifer  themfelves  to  it   of  their   own  accord;  in  the 
flrll  place,    by  annexing  to   fuch  a  facrifice  all   the 
mod  glorious  and  incomprehenfible  reward?,  of  reli- 
gion ;   and  in  the  ftcond,  by  fubjecting  the  refufal  to 
perpetual   infamy,    by   degrading  the  woman  from 
her  tribe,  and  confidering  her  as  bringing  an  eter- 
nal difgrace  on  her  family. 

As  there  is  no  pofitive  proof,  however,  that  this 
was  the  origin  of  the  burning  of  widows,  others 
have  fuppofed,  that  the  cudom  arofe  in  the  follow- 
ing manner.  At  the  death  of  Brama,  the  great 
prophet  and  lawgiver  of  the  Hindoos,  his  wives, 
inconfolable  for  fo  great  a  lofs,  refolved  not  to  fur- 
vive  him,  and  therefore  voluntarily  facrificed  them- 
felves on  the  funeral  pile:  the  wives  of  the  chief 
Rajahs,  or  ofllcers  of  date,  unwilling  to  have  their 
love  and  fidelity  reckoned  lefs  than  the  wives  of  Bra- 
ma, followed  in  a  kind  of  bravo  the  example  fet 
them  by  thofe  wives.  The  Bramins,  or  priells  of 
Brama,  forefeeing  that  it  would  turn  out  advantage- 
ous to  their  fociety,  extolled  the  new  invented  piety, 


OF  WOMEN.  3°3 

and  declared  that  the  fpirits  of  thofe  heroines  fronr 
thenceforth  defifted  from  being  tranfmigrated  into 
other  bodies,  and  immediately  entered  into  the  firft 
bhoobun  of  purification;*  a  reward  fo  glorious, 
which  put  an  end  to  the  fpirit  palling  a  long  and 
difagreeable  ftate  of  probation,  in  the  bodies  of  a 
variety  of  inferior  animals,  induced  even  the  wives 
of  the  Bramins  themfelves  to  claim  a  right  of  facri- 
ficing  their  bodies  in  this  manner.  The  wives  of  all 
the  Hindoos  caught  the  enthufiaftic  contagion,  and 
thus  in  a  fhort  time  the  frantic  heroifm  of  a  few  wo- 
men brought  on  a  general  cuftom  ;  the  Bramins  ianc- 
tirled  it  by  religion,  and  thereby  eftablifhed  it  on  a 
foundation  that  feveral  thoufand  years  have  not  been 
able  to  deflroy. 

As  the  Bramins  receive  confiderable  emoluments 
from  the  burning  of  widows,  being  intitled  to  all 
the  finery  in  which  they  are  adorned  before  they 
afcend  the  funeral  pile,  they  take  care  to  interweave 
into  their  education  an  idea  of  its  neceffity,  and  from 
their  earlieft  youth  inftrucl:  them  to  confider  this 
cataftrophe  as  the  moil  pleating  to  Brama,  and  the 
mod:  beneficial  to  themfelves  and  their  children. 
When  they  become  wives,  the  fame  unwearied 
efforts  are  continued  to  confirm  their  minds  in  the 
principles  fo  early  inculcated;  all  the  enthuliafm  of 
religion,  and  all  the  ardour  arifing  in  the  human 
mind  from  glory,  are  kindled  up  into  a  blaze;  all 
the  abhorrence  darting  up  againif  degradation; 
mame  and  infamy  are  likewile  conjured  up  to  exert 
themfelves.     The  woman  is  told,  from  the  Shaffer, 

*  According  to  the  Bramins  there  are  fourteen  bhoobuns  or 
fpheres,  feven  above  the  earth,  for  the  reception  of  the  fpirits  of 
the  bleifed,  and  feven  below  it,  for  the  reception  of  thofe  who 
are  condemned  to  further  mifery  and  puniihment,  till  they  arrive 
at  the  neceffary  degre#  of  purification. 


Set  THE  HISTORY 

their  fountain  of  infallible  truth,  that  flic  v\  ho  1  urns 
with  the  body  of  her  hufband  Avail  enjoy  life  eternal 
with  him  in  Heaven  ;  that  the  children  defcended  of 
a  mother  thus  voluntarily  facrificed,  acquire  thereby 
an  additional  iuftre,  are  courted  in  marriage  by  the 
mod  honourable  of  their  caft,  and  even  (ometimes 
advanced  to  a  cad  fuperior  to  that  in  which  they  were 
born;  that  the  who  daftardly  declines  to  afcend  the 
funeral  pile,  is  degraded  from  her  cad,  thrown  out 
of  all  fociety,  and  by  every  one  contemned  and  def- 
pifed  ;  her  children  too,  degraded  and  buffetted, 
feel  the  effects  of  her  crime,  and  become  with  her- 
felf  the  deteilation  even  of  the  lowed  and  mod  defpi- 
cable  of  mankind. 

In  whatever  light  we  view  this  cudom,  or  from 
whatever  fource  we  derive  its  origin,  it  is  certainly 
one  of  the  mod  extraordinary  that  we  are  prefented 
with  in  hi  dory;  feveral  authors,  and  among  them 
Monf.  Voltaire,  have  mentioned  it  as  the  hmheft 
effort  of  fortitude  and  refolution,  that  a  woman,  in 
the  bloom  of  youth  and  beauty,  fliould  not  only 
voluntarily  relinquifh  life,  but  calmly  and  intrepidly 
kindle,  and  afterwards  afcend  the  pile  whofe  flames 
are  to  devour  her.  Of  this  calmnefs  and  intrepidity 
there  may,  perhaps,  be,  or  rather  there  appear  to 
be,  fome  inllances :  but  even  thefe  are  not  fo  nume- 
rous as  we  are  taught  to  believe;  for  a  variety  of 
authors  tell  us,  and  indeed  their  tedimony  is  mod 
cenfonant  to  human  nature,  that  the  greater  part,  if 
not  all  of  the  victims  who  devote  themfelvcs  in  t 
manner,  are  previoufly  rendered  infenfible  by  opium 
and  other  foporific  drugs.  Befides,  when  we  atten- 
tively confider  an  action  fo  repugnant  to  felf-preler- 
vation,  the  dronged  of  all  human  principles,  we 
fhall  find,  that  though  the  victims  really  offer  them- 
felvcs, yet  the  facrifice  is  not  altogether  voluntary; 


OF  WOMEN.  305 

it  is  an  aft  to  which  the  mind  is  forced  to  give  con- 
fent,  by  hopes  of  the  higheft:  rewards,  and  fears  oi 
themoft:  dreadful  punifhmeiits;  and  to  conflitute  a 
voluntary  aft,  it  is  evident  the  mind  muft  not  be 
influenced  by  either. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  alleged  here,  that  no  motives 
whatever  are  fufficient  to  influence  the  human  mine, 
to  relinquifh  life,  and  far  lefs  to  meet  death  when 
armed  with  fuch  ten-fold  terrors;  but  this  is  not 
really  the  cafe;  there  are  two  motives  of  a  nature  ft 
powerful,  that  either  of  them  have  frequently  ena- 
bled both  men  and  women  to  undervalue  life,  and 
fet  death  and  all  his  terrors  at  defiance.  The  firft  of 
thefe  is  Religion;  almoft  every  religion  has  been 
perfecuted,  and  that  perfecution  has  conftantly  been 
productive  of  martyrs,  who,  influenced  by  the  glo- 
rious rewards  which  they  fancied  annexed  to  their 
fufterings,  and  terrified  by  the  punifhmems  they 
mould  incur  by  declining  to  fuffer,  have  behaved  in 
death  with  a  courage  and  magnanimity  equal,  if  not 
fuperior  to  the  Hindoo  women.  The  fecond  is  the 
delufive  phantom  Honour,  whofe  empty  name  drags 
the  foldier  to  the  field  of  blood,  prompts  him  to 
fcale  the  oifenfive  wall,  and  meet  the  death  planted 
there  in  ten  thoufand  terrible  fhapes ;  where,  if  he 
perifhes,  the  honour  he  fought  after  will  not  enter 
with  him  into,  nor  reward  him,  in  the  other  world, 
Thefe  motives  which,  when  acting  fingiy,  are  each 
of  them  fo  powerful,  both  combine  together  to  lead 
the  Hindoo  women  to  the  funeral  pile;  and  what 
gives  them  an  additional  force  is,  the  education  of 
the  women,  who  are  from  their  infancy  trained  up 
to  confider  this  world  as  their  place  of  punimment, 
their  bodies  as  their  prifons,  and  the  final  releafe  from 
both  as  the  undoubted  commencement  of  the  moll: 
certain   and    perfeft   happinefs.       Lefs    tenacious, 


3c6  THE  HISTORY 

therefore,  of  life  than  people  educated  andinflructed 
in  different  and  more  doubtful  principles,  they  fub- 
mit,  though  not  altogether  in  a  voluntary  manner, 
yet  with  lefs  reluctance  than  rs  natural  with  us.  to 
this  facrifice,  which  they  confider  not  only  as  releaf- 
ing  them  from  all  farther  tranfmigrations,  but  as 
joining  them  for  ever  to  the  happy  fpirits  of  their 
departed  hufbands,  in  a  ftate  ot  the  mott  perfect  puri- 
fication. 

But  this  cuilom  of  burning  has  not  been  altoge- 
ther confined  to  women;  feveral  Indian  philofophers, 
through  an  excels  of  fanaticifra,  or  chagrined  with 
the  ills  and  accidents  of  life,  have  flung  themfelves 
into  the  devouring  flames,  and  there  expired  in 
feeming  tranquility.  The  iateft  inftance,  perhaps, 
of  this  was  Calanus,  who  followed  Alexander  in  his 
expedition  to  India  ;  he  had  lived  free  from  pain  and 
ilcknefs  to  the  age  of  eighty-three,  when  being  feized 
with  a  violent  cholic,  and  perhaps  loaded  with  the 
infirmities  of  agtf,  he  took  the  refolution  of  freeing 
himfelf  from  the  whole  by  the  funeral  pile;  a  refo- 
lution which  he  executed  in  fpite  of  all  the  remon- 
strances of  his  royal  mafter  and  oilier  friends.  We 
would  naturally  fuppofe  that  a  nation  in  which  both 
men  and  women  were  To  regardlefs  of  life,  fhould 
be  brave  and  warlike,  yet  the  contrary  has  always 
been  the  cafe,  they  have  yielded  and  eafy  conqueft 
almolt  to  every  invader. 

But  to  return  to  the  women.  In  fpite  of  the 
care  of  the  Bramins,  in  fpite  of  all  the  glorious 
rewards  offered  to  thofe  who  burn,  and  indignant 
punifliments  threatened  againft  thofe  who  do  not, 
nature  will  often  revolt  at  death,  and  prefer  even  a 
life  of  ignominy  to  an  exit  attended  with  all  the  flat- 
tering ideas  of  honour  and  felicity.     We  are  encou- 


OF  WOMEN.  307 

raged  to  afTert  this,  becaufe  a  gentleman,  who  has 
been  prefent  at  many  of  thefe  executions,  declares, 
that  in  in  fome  of  the  victims  he  obferved  a  dread  and 
reluctance,  which  ftrongly  fpoke  their  having  repent- 
ed of  their  fatal  refolution.  But  too  late  ;  for  Vifl- 
nu  is  waiting  for  the  Spirit,  and  mull  not  be  difap- 
pointed  :  when  the  woman,  therefore,  wants  cou- 
rage, me  is  forced  to  afcend  the  pile,  and  is  after- 
ward held  down  by  long  poles  till  the  flames  reach 
and  deftroyher;  mean  while  her  fcreams  and  cries 
are  drowned  by  the  noife  of  loud  mufic,  and  the 
ftill  more  noify  {bouts  and  acclamations  of  the  fur- 
rounding  multitude. 

Some  hiflorians  have  of  late  aiTerted,  that  the 
cuflom  of  burning  no  longer  exifts  in  India ;  this, 
however,  is  a  mi  (fake  ;  there  are  two  recent  in- 
ftances  of  it  tranfmitted  by  Europeans,  who  were 
witneflbs  of  the  tranfactions  they  relate.  Of  one  of 
thefe,  as  being  die  moil  circumftantial,  we  fhall 
give  our  readers  an  abftract.  On  the  4th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1742,  died  Rham  Chund,  pundit  of  the  Maha- 
rattor  tribe;  his  widow,  aged  feventeen  or  eighteen 
years,  as  icon  as  he  expired,  immediately  declared 
to  the  Bramins,  and  witneffes  prefent,  her  refolution 
to  burn.  As  the  family  was  of  great  importance,  all 
her  relations  and  friends  left  no  arguments  unat- 
tempted  to  difluade  her  from  her  purpofe.  The  (late 
of  her  infant  children,  ami  die  terrors  and  pains  of 
death  {he  afpired  after,  were  painted  to  her  in  the 
ftrongeit  and  mod:  lively  colours;  but  me  was.  deaf 
to  all.  Her  children,  iadeed,  fhe  feemed  to  leave 
wkh  fome  regret ;  but  when  the  terrors  of  burning 
were  mentioned  to  her,  with  a  countenance  calm 
and  refolved,  ilie  put.  one  of  her  fingers  into  the  fire, 
and  held  it  there  a  confiderable  time;  then,  with 
one  of  her  hands,  flic  put  fire  into  the  palm  of  the 


3o 8  THE  HISTORY 

other  ;  fpriftkled  incenfe  upon  it,  and  fumigated  the 
attending  Bnnnins.  Being  given  to  underftand, 
that  (lie  fhould  not  obtain  permiffion  to  barn,  fhe 
fell  immediately  into  the  moll  deep  affliction ;  but 
foon  recollecting  herfelf,  anfwered,  that  death  would 
Hill  be  in  her  power ;  and  that  if  {he  were  not  allow- 
ed to  make  her  exit,  according  to  the  principles  of 
her  calf,  (he  would  ftarve  herfelf.  Finding  her 
thus  refolved,  her  friends  were,  at  lad,  obliged  to 
confent  to  her  propofal. 

Early  on  the  following  morning,  the  body  of 
the  deceafed  was  carried  down  to  the  water  fide  ; 
the  widow  followed  about  ten  o'clock,  accompanied 
by  three  principle  Bramins,  her  children,  relations, 
and  a  numerous  crowd  of  fpeclators.  As  the  order 
f or  her  burning  did  not  arrive  till  after  one  o'clock, 
the  interval  was  employed  in  praying  with  the  Bra- 
mins, and  warning  in  the  Ganges:  as  .  foon  as  it 
arrived,  Ihe  retired,  and  (laid  about  half  an  hour 
in  the  midll  her  female  relations  ;  Ihe  then  diveited 
herfelf  of  her  bracelets  and  other  ornaments ;  and 
having  tied  them  in  a  kind  of  apron  which  hung 
before  her,  was  conduced  by  the  females  to  a  cor- 
ner of  the  pile.  On  the  pile  was  an  arched  arbour, 
formed  of  dry  flicks,  boughs,  and  leaves  ;  and  open 
only  at  one  end  to  admit  her  entrance.  In  this  was 
depciited  the  body  of  the  deceafed  ;  his  head  at  the 
end,  oppofite  to  the  opening.  At  that  corner  of 
the  pile,  to  which  me  had  been  conducted,  a  Bra- 
min  had  made  a  final  I  fire,  round  which  fhe  and 
three  Bramins  fat  for  a  few  minutes  ;  one  of  them 
put  into  her  hand  a  leaf  of  the  bale  tree  ;  of  the 
wood  of  which  a  part  of  the  funeral  pile  is  alw 
conftructed :  me  threw  the  leaf  into  the  fire,  and 
ine  of  the  others  cave  her  a  fecond  leaf,  which  ihe 
Held  over  the  flame,  whilll  he,  three  times,  dropped 


OF  WOMEN.  3o? 

fome  ghee  on  it,  which  melted  and  fell  into  the  fire  : 
whilll  thefe  things  were  doing,  a  third  Bramin  read 
to  her  fome  portions  of  the  Aughtorrah  Beid,  and 
afked  her  fome  queftions,  which  (he  anfwered  with 
a  fteady  and  ferene  countenance  ;  thefe  being  over, 
fhe  was  led  with  great  foletnnity  three  times  round 
the  pile,  the  Bramins  reading  before  her  ;  when  fhe 
came  the  third  time  to  the  fmall  lire,  (he  (lopped, 
took  her  rings  off  her  toes  and  fingers,  and  put 
them  toher  other  ornaments;  then  taking  a  folemn 
and  majeftic  leave  of  her  children,  parents,  and 
relations,  one  of  the  Bramins  dipped  a  large  wick 
of  cotton  in  fome  ghee,  and  giving  it  lighted  in  her 
hand,  led  her  to  the  open  fide  of  the  arbour,  where 
all  the  Bramins  fell  at  her  feet;  fhe  bleffed  them, 
and  they  retired  weeping.  She  then  afcended  the 
pile,  and  entered  the  arbour,  making  a  profound 
reverence  at  the  feet  of  the  deceafed,  and  then  ad- 
vancing feated  herfelf  by  his  head.  In  filent  medi- 
tation, fhe  looked  on  his  face  for  the  fpace  of  a  mi- 
nute; then  fet  fire  to  the  arbour  in  three  places; 
but  foon  obferving  that  (lie  had  kindled  it  to  the 
leeward,  and  that  the  wind  blew  the  flames  from  her, 
fhe  arofe,  fet  fire  to  the  windward,  and  placidly 
refumedher  Ration;  fitting  therewith  a  dignity  and 
compofure,  which  no  words  can  convey  an  idea  of. 
The  pile  being  of  combuftible  matter,  the  fupport- 
ers  of  the  rpof  were  foon  confumed,  and  the  whole 
tumbled  in  uponher,  putting  an  end  at  once  to  hei 
courage  and  her  life. 

The  other  account,  of  a  woman  who  burned  her- 
felf, happened  within  thefe  very  few  years,  and 
differs  from  this,  only  in  a  few  particulars :  in  this 
we  are  not  told  how  the  victim  difpofed  of  her  jewels ; 
in  it,  they  were  given  to  the  Bramins:  this  woman 
kindled  herfelf  the  fire  that  was  to, devour  her;   the 

vol.  11.  R  r 


3io  THE  HISTORY 

other  had  It  kindled  by  her  children:  this  fat  by  her 
deceafed  hufband  ;  the  other  ftretched  herfelf  by  his 
fide.  But  thefe,  and  forae  others,  are  immaterial 
differences,  and  may  perhaps  be  regulated  by  the 
cufloms  of  different  diftricte. 

From  fuch  fcenes  of  horror,  we  naturally  turn 
with  abhorrence;  and  we  are  happy  to  fay,  that 
though  the  practice  is  not  altogether  abolifhed,  by 
the  authority  and  example  of  the  Europeans,  it  is 
gradually  falling  into  difufe,  and  cannot  be  executed 
without  the  leave  of  the  governor;  who  grants  it  as 
feldom  as  poffible :  European  authority  and  example, 
however,  cannot  prevail  on  the  Afiatics  to  confider 
their  women  in  a  more  liberal  point  of  view  ;  to  treat 
them  as  companions  and  equals,  or  to  releafe  them 
from  thofe  prifons  where  they  are  confined  for  life. 
When  fuch,  therefore,  is  the  general  treatment  of 
the  lex,  even  while  in  all  the  bloom  oi*  youth  and 
beauty,  we  are  not  to  expecl:  that  fuch  widows  as  do 
not  burn  with  their  hufbands,  are  to  experience 
much  good  treatment — when  their  youth,  when 
their  beauty,  is  no  more;  when  they  have  failed  in 
a  point  of  duty,  and  of  gratitude,  reckoned  fo  necef- 
fary ;  and  have  nothing,  confequently,  left  to  plead 
their  caufe  but  humanity,  a  paffion  fcarcely  alive 
among  the  people  we  are  treating  of,  and  whofe 
feeble  exertions,  in  many  places  of  Afia  and  Africa, 
cannot  refcue  even  the  widow  of  a  friend,  or  a  bro- 
ther, from  being  confidered  as  the  property  of  the 
relations  of  her  deceafed  hufband,  and  fold  or  con- 
demned to  labour  for  their  profit. 

Widows  are  not,  however,  in  all  parts  of  Afia 
treated  in  this  indignant  manner.  In  China,  if  they 
have  had  children,  they  become  abfolute  miftreffes 
of  themfelves,  and  their  relations  have  no  power  to 


OF  WOMEN.  311 

compel  them  to  continue  widows,  or  to  give  them  to 
another  hufband.  It  is  not,  however,  reputable 
for  a  widow  who  has  children,  to  enter  into  a  fecond 
marriage,  without  great  neceflity,  efpecially  if  me 
is  a  woman  of  diflinction  ;  in  which  cafe,  although 
(lie  has  been  a  wife  only  a  few  hours,  or  barely  con- 
tracted, me  frequently  thinks  herfelf  obliged  to  pafs 
the  reft  of  her  days  in  widowhood;  and  thereby  to 
teflify  to  the  world  the  eileem  and  veneration  (he 
had  for  her  hufband  or  lover.  In  the  middle  flations 
of  life,  the  relations  of  the  deceafed  hufband,  eager 
to  reimburfe  the  family  in  the  fum  which  the  wife 
originally  cofl  it,  oblige  her  to  marry,  or  rather  fell 
her  to  another  hufcand,  if  (lie  has  no  male  iiTue; 
and  it  frequently  happens,  that  the  future  hufband 
is  fixed  upon  and  the  money  paid  for  her,  before 
me  is  acquainted  with  the  tranfa&iom  From  this 
oppreffion  me  has  only  two  methods  of  delivering 
herfelf;  her  relations  may  reimburfe  thofe  of  the 
deceafed  hufband,  and  claim  her  exemption;  or  me 
may  become  a  BonzefTe  ;  aitate,  however,  not  very 
honourable,  when  embraced  in  an  involuntary  man- 
ner. By  the  law  of  China,  a  widow  cannot  be  fold 
to  another  till  the  time  of  her  mourning  for  the  firft 
expires ;  fo  eager,  however,  are  the  friends  often 
to  difpofe  of  her,  that  they  pay  no  regard  to  this  law ; 
but  on  complaint  being  made  to  a  mandarin,  he  is 
obliged  to  do  her  juflice.  As  flie  is  commonly 
unwilling  to  be  bartered  for  in  this  manner,  with- 
out her  confent  or  knowledge,  as  foon  as  the  bargain 
isftruck,  a  covered  chair,  with  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  lufty  fellows,  is  brought  to  her  houfe;  fhe  is 
forcibly  put  into  it,  and  conveyed  to  the  houfe  of 
her  new  hufband,  who  takes  care  to  fecure  her. 

Though  among  the  favages  of  America,  though 
in  Africa  and  in  Afia,  widows  are  treated  in  this 


3i2  THE  HISTORY 

infamous  manner,  and  their  condition  thereby  ren- 
dered the  moil  deplorable  ;  in  Europe  the  cafe  is  fo 
widely  different,  that  widowhood,  when  tolerable 
circumilances  are  annexed  to  it,  is,  of  all  other 
female  Hates,  the  mod  eligible;  being  free  from  that 
guardianfhip  and  controul,  to  which  the  fex  are  fub- 
]tci  while  virgins  and  while  wives.  In  no  part  of 
Europe  is  this  more  exemplified  than  at  Parma,  and 
fome  other  places  of  Italy  ;  where  a  widow  is  the 
only  female  who  is  free  either  to  chufe  a  hufband, 
or  affume  government  of  any  of  her  anions  ;  while, 
fhould  a  virgin  pretend  to  chufe  for  herfelf,  it  would 
be  reckoned  the  mod:  profligate  licentioufnefs;  fhould 
fhe  govern  her  actions  or  opinions,  fhe  would  be 
confidered  as  the  molt  pert,  and  perhaps  mod  aban- 
doned of  her  fex.  At  Turin,  the  order  of  St  Mau- 
rice are  reftrifred  from  marrying  widows  ;  and  yet 
at  Turin  the  condition  of  a  widow  is,  in  point  of 
every  other  liberty,  preferable  to  that  of  a  maid. 

As  we  mail  have  occafion  in  the  next  chapter  to 
treat  more  fully  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  wi- 
dows in  England,  we  fhall  not  at  prefent  enter  on 
that  fubjeel.  Our  ancient  laws,  and  thofe  of  a  great 
part  of  Europe,  ordained,  that  a  widow  fhould  lofe 
her  dower,  if  fhe  married  again,  or  fuffcred  her 
chaitity  to  be  corrupted;  and  the  laws  of  Prufiia 
retain  this  ordinance  to  the  prefent  time.  They  like- 
wife  ordain,  that  a  widow  fhall  not  marry  again 
within  nine  months  after  the  death  of  her  hufband; 
and  that  if  a  widow,  while  fhe  is  with  child  by  a 
deceafed  hufband,  marry  another,  flie  fhall  be  put 
into  the  houfe  of  correction;  and  the  hufband,  if 
he  knew  her  condition,  put  to  work  at  the  wheel- 
barrow for  one  year.  Befides  making  a  widow  lofe 
her  dower  when  fhe  enters  into  a  fecond  marriage, 
the  Pruilians  have  another  regulation  concerning 


OF  WOMEN.  313 

them,  highly  descriptive  of  the  humanity  a©d  wif- 
dom  of  their  legiflator.  When  a  widower  and  a 
widow  intend  to  marry,  one  or  both  of  which  hav- 
ing children,  as  it  too  frequently  happens  that  Such 
children  are  either  deSpifed  or  neglecled,  in  conSe- 
quence  of  the  new  connections  formed,  and  perhaps 
of  the  new  offspring  raifcd  up,  the  laws  of  Fruffia 
provide  for  their  education  and  fortune,  according 
to  the  rank  and  circumflances  of  the  parents;  and 
will  not  fuffer  either  man  or  woman  to  enter  into  a 
fecond  marriage,  without  previoufly  fettling  with 
the  children  of  the  fiiSt,  and  producing  a  certificate 
that  they  have  done  fo  from  the  judge  of  the  di(tri£t 
where  they  refide. 

We  have  already  related,  that  widows  in  fome 
parts  of  the  world  are  obliged  to  diftinguifh  them- 
selves by  certain  marks  from  the  reft  of  the  Sex, 
that  they  may  not  have  a  power  of  impofing  them- 
felves  on  the  men  as  virgins.  The  laws  of  PrufSa 
carry  this  idea  ilill  farther ;  they  reckon  that  the 
man  who  marries  a  widow,  believing  her  to  be  a 
virgin,  is  f)  egregioufly  cheated,  that  they  retort 
the  evil  en  the  aggreffor,  and  render  the  marriage 
null  and  of  no  effect.  We  cannot  pretend  to  ce- 
fcribe  particularly  the  ideas  that  the  Prrfiians  enter- 
tain of  widows  :  they  are  certainly,  however,  much 
lefs  exalted  than  thofe  they  entertain  of  virgins  ;  as 
in  their  code  of  laws  we  meet  with  this  remarkable 
Sentiment  :  "  The  husband  may  prefens  to  his 
bride  the  morgengabe,  or  gift,  on  the  morning 
after  marriage,  even  though  he  fhould  have  married 
a  widow."  But  though  widows  feem  by  them 
much  lefs  effeemed  than  virgins,  they  are  not  with- 
out Several  privileges.  In  iome  provinces,  if  there 
is  no  marriage  fettlement,  and  the  husbands  dies 
inteftate,  they  Succeed    to  the  half  of  all  that  was 


3H  THE  HISTORY 

the  joint  property  of  both  ;  but  a  privilege  ftill 
more  extraordinary,  and  neither  reconcilable  to 
nature,  nor  to  found  policy,  is,  the  allowing  in 
fome  cafes  to  a  widow,  eleven  months  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  to  bring  forth  the  child  that  was 
begot  by  him  ;  wrhich,  according  to  the  Pruffian 
law,  fhall  be  legitimate,  provided  nothing  can  be 
proved  againft  the  woman. 

In  almofl  all  the  other  countries  of  Europe,  the 
laws  and  cuftoms,  which  regard  widows,  are  little 
different  from  thofe  concerning  virgins,  only  in  this 
circumftance,  that  they  every  where  allow  the  widow 
to  be  miftrefs  of  herfelf ;  while  the  maid  and  the 
wife  are  controuled  by  parent  or  a  husband.  They 
generally  alfo  fecure  to  the  widow  a  maintenance 
from  the  eftates  and  effects  of  her  deceafed  husband, 
and  frequently  devolve  upon  her  in  the  important 
trull  of  bringing  up  her  children,  and  fuffer  her  to 
reap  fome  advantages  from  board  and  education  ; 
but  fuch  advantages  are,  for  the  moft:  part,  in  the 
power  of  the  father,  who,  by  his  will,  may  leave 
them  to  his  wife,  or  to  any  other  guardian  he  mall 
think  proper  to  appoint  ;  for  the  laws  of  Europe  do 
not  confider  the  mother  as  the  natural  guardian  of 
her  own  children,  nor  endow  her  with  any  autho- 
ritative power  over  them. 


OF  WOMEN.  315 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 


Of  the  Rights,  Privileges,  and  Immunities  of  the 
Women  of  Great  Britain  ;  the  Punifmnents  to  which 
they  are  liable  by  Law;  and  the  Rejiriflionj  they 
are  laid  under  by  Law  and  Cuflom* 


N  proportion  as  real  politenefs  and  ele- 
gance of  manners  advance,  the  interefl:  and  advan- 
tages of  the  fair  fex  not  only  advance  alfo,  but 
become  more  firmly  and  permanently  eftabliihed ; 
the  interefts,  however,  and  good  treatment  of  the 
fex  do  not  altogether  depend  on  the  advancement  of 
politenefs  and  elegance,  for  it  fometimes  happens, 
that  a  people  rather  lefs  advanced  in  thefe  articles 
than  their  neighbours,  make  up  the  lolTes  thereby 
arifing  to  their  women,  by  good-nature  and  huma- 
nity. The  French  and  Italians  are  before  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Britain  in  politenefs,  they  are  fuperior  to 
them  in  elegance,  yet  the  condition  of  their  women, 
upon  the  whole,  is  not  preferable.  Such  privile- 
ges and  immunities  as  the  French  and  Italian  women 
derive  .from  the  influence  of  politenefs,  the  Britifh 
derive  from  the  laws  of  their  country.  Flowing  in 
this  channel,  though  they  are  perhaps  accompanied 
with  lefs  ibftnefs  and  indulgence,  they  have  the 
advantage  of  being  eftabliflied  on  a  firmer  founda- 
tion ;  and  being  dictated  by  equity  and  humanity, 
are  lefs  liable  to  be  altered  and  infringed,  than  if 
they  depended  on  the  whim  and  cap-rice  which  influ- 
ences gallantry  and  politenefs. 


316  THE  HISTORY 

Brfore  we  proceed  to  a  particular  detail  of  thofe 
laws  which  regard  the  perfons  and  properties  of  the 
women  of  this  country,  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
obferve,  that,  taken  collectively,  and  compared  with 
the  fame  kind  of  laws  in  other  countries,  they  feem 
fo  much  preferable,  that  we  cannot  help  imagining 
that  the  fame  fpirit  which  for  many  centuries  has 
mitigated  the  Englifli  to  be  liberal  of  their  blood  and 
of  their  treafure  in  fupport  of  thofe  weaker  nations 
who  were  oppreffed  by  their  more  powerful  neigh- 
bours, has  alfo  dictated  the  laws  which  regard  that 
fex  who  are  almod  every  where  enilaved  or  oppref- 
fed by  the  other.  It  is  true,  the  laws  of  feveral 
countries  are  in  fome  particulars  more  favourable  to 
the  fex  than  ours.  Thofe  of  Frederic  king  of  Pruf- 
fia,  which  regard  the  matrimonial  compact,  ihew  a 
greater  indulgence  to  the  women,  and  vert:  in  them 
powers  more  extenfive  than  thofe  of  England. — 
Thofe  of  France  and  Italy,  as  well  as  the  cuftoms 
which  regard  their  perfonal  liberty,  feem  more  indul- 
gent; and  thofe  of  Spain,  which  regard  their  rank, 
and  fettle  the  deference  to  be  paid  to  them,  greatly 
exceed  any  thing  experienced  in  this  country.  But 
thefe  favours  and  indulgences  are  only  partial,  they 
only  mark  particular  parts  of  their  code  of  female 
laws,  and  do  not  uniformly  extend  their  influence 
over  the  whole. 

In  confidering  the  advantages  and  difadvantages 
in  the  condition  of  our  women,  we  fhall  begin  with 
the  higher  ranks  of  life.  In  France,  the  Salique 
law  does  not  allow  a  female  to  inherit  the  crown; 
but  in  England  a  woman  may  be  the  firfl:  perfonage 
in  the  kingdom,  may  fucceed  to  the  crown  in  her 
own  right,  and  in  that  cafe,  not  bound  by  any  of  the 
laws  that  regard  women,  (lie  may  enjoy  the  fame 
powers  and  privileges  as  a  king.     Such  a  queen,  if 


OF  WOMEN.  317 

{he  marries,  retains  the  fame  power,  iffues  the 
orders,  and  tranfacte  the  bufinefs  of  the  (late  in  her 
afari  name,  and  continues  ftili  the  fovereign,  while 
her  huiband  is  only  a  fttbjecT.  But  when  a  king  fuc- 
ceeds  in  his  own  right  to  the  crown,  and  marries,  his 
queen  is  then  only  a  fubject,  and  her  rights  and  pri- 
vileges not  near  fo  extenfive;  fhe  is  exempted,  howe- 
ver, from  the  general  laws  which  exclude  married 
womefi  from  having  any  property  in  their  own  right ; 
llie  is  alio  .ved  a  court,  and  officers  difHncl:  from  thofe 
of  the  kingf  her  hufband;  and  (he  may  fue  any  per- 
fon  at  law,  withoat  joining  her  huiband  in  the  fuit. 
It  is  high  treafon  to  endeavour  to  compafs  her  death, 
and  to  violate  her  chaftity  is  punifhable  in  a  much 
feverer  manner  than  the  punilhments  for. committing 
adultery  with  any  other  woman.  She  may  purchafe 
lands,  (he  may  fell  and  convey  them  to  another  per- 
fon,  without  the  interference  of  her  hufband.  She 
may  have  a  feparate  property  in  goods  and  in  lands, 
and  may  difpofe  of  thefe  by  will,  as  if  fhe  were  a  fin- 
gle  woman.  She  is  not  liable  to  pay  any  toll,  and 
cannot  be  fined  in  any  court  of  law.  In  all  other 
refpech  fhe  is  only  confidered  as  a  fubject,  and  on 
the  commiilion  of  any  crime  may  be  tried  and  punch- 
ed by  the  peers  of  the  realm.  A  queen-dowager 
has  privileges  different  from  all  other  women  of 
whatever  rank ;  fhe  remains  frill  entitled  to  almoft 
every  right  fhe  enjoyed  during  the  life  of  her  huf- 
band, and  even  if  (he  marries  a  fubject,  does  not 
lofe  her  rank  or  title;  but  as  a  marriage  of  this  kind 
is  confidered  as  derogatory  to  her  dignity,  no  man 
is  allowed  to  efpoufe  her  without  a  licence  from  the 
reigning  king. 

Some  of  the  other  females  of  the  royal  family 
are  alfo  peculiarly  diftinguiihed  and  protected  by 
the  Saw.  To  violate  the  chaftity  of  the  confort  of  the 

VOL.   IT.  S  S 


THE  HISTORY 

prince  of  Wales,  or  of  the  eldeft.  daughter  of  the 
kiug,  although  with  their  own  confent,  is  deemed 
high  treafonj  and  puniihable  accordingly.  In  for- 
mer times,  the  king  had  a  power  of  levying  an  aid 
upon  his  iubjects,  to  enable  him  to  defray  the  ex- 
pence  of  marrying  and  giving  a  portion  to  his  eldeil 
daughter  ;  but  this  power,  which  was  frequently 
ftretched  into  the  mofl  exorbitant  opprelTion,  decli- 
ned v  ith  the  feudal  fyftem,  and  has  long  fmce  hap- 
pily expired.  As  for  the  younger  fons  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  king,  they  are  hardly  otherwife  diilin- 
guifhed  by  the  laws  from  other  iubjects,  than  by 
having  the  precedence  in  all  public  ceremonies. 

Befides  the  privileges  annexed  to  the  females  of 
the  royal  family,  there  are  fome  alfo  enjoyed  by  peer- 
ciTcs,  which  are  not  common  to  other  women.  A 
peerefs,  when  guilty  of  any  crime,  cannot  be  tried 
but  by  a  jury  of  the  houfe  of  peers  ;  and  if  convicted 
of  any  crime  within  the  benefit  of  clergy,  may  plead, 
and  is  entitled  to  an  exemption  from  the  punifhment 
of  burning  on  the  hand,  a  punifhment  commonly 
hiflicted  upon  people  of  all  inferior  ranks  for  fuch 
kind  of  offences.  A  woman,  who  is  noble  in  her 
own  right,  cannot  lofe  her  nobility  by  marrying  the 
meaneft  plebeian;  but  fhe  can  neither  communicate 
her  nobility  to  her  hufband,  nor  to  her  own  chil- 
dren had  by  him  :  fhe  who  is  only  ennobled  by 
marrying  a  peer,  lofes  that  nobility  if  fhe  afterward 
marry  a  commoner,  the  law  judging  it  expedient 
that  marriage  fhould  have  a  power  of  degrading  as 
well  as  of  elevating  her.  She  who  firfl  marries  a 
duke  or  other  peer  of  a  fuperior  order,  and  after- 
wards a  firaple  baron,  is  itill  allowed  to  retain  her 
iirfl  title,  and  the  privileges  annexed  to  it;  for  the 
law  confiders  all  peers  as  equals.  In  the  fcale  of 
female  rank  and  importance,  there  is  a  kind  of  inter- 


OF  WOMEN.  319 

mediate  fpace  between  the  peerefs  and  the  com- 
moner, filled  up  by  the  wives  of  bifhops,  judges, 
and  baronets;  all  of  which,  though  they  mare  in 
the  fplendour  and  opulence  of  their  hufbands,  have 
no  title  in  confequence  of  the  rank  which  thefe  hufc 
bands  enjoy:  by  the  courtefy  indeed  of  this  country, 
the  wives  of  baronets  are  called  ladies,  a  title  fupe- 
rior  to  that  of  their  hufbands,  but  at  the  fame  time  a 
title  to  which  they  have  no  legal  right,  being  in  all 
judicial  writs  and  proceedings  only  denominated 
Dame  fuch-a-one,  according  to  the  name  of  their 
hufbands.  In  Scotland  the  courtefy  of  the  country 
is  carried  flill  much  farther;  every  woman  who  is 
proprietor  of  any  land  in  her  own  right,  or  is  the 
wife  of  a  man  who  is  proprietor  of  an  efta'te,  great 
or  little,  is  called  Lady  fuch-a-thing,  according  to 
the  name  of  that  eftate:  fo  that  a  woman  is  fdme- 
times  accofted  with  the  pompous  title  of  lady,  who 
may  almofl  cover  the  whole  of  her  territorial  diftricl 
with  her  apron. 

Such  are  the  privileges  and  immunities  enjoyed  by 
the  more  elevated  ranks  of  female  life;  but  befides 
thefe,  they  are  alfo  entitled  to  all  the  other  privile- 
ges and  rights  which  the  laws  of  this  country  have 
conferred  upon  women  in  general,  and  which  we 
mall  now  more  particularly  confider. 

As  women  are,  in  poKfhed  fociety,  weak  and 
incapable  of  felf-defence,  the  laws  of  this  country 
have  fupplied  this  defect,  and  formed  a  kind  of  bar- 
rier around  them,  by  rendering  their  perfons  fo  facred 
and  inviolable,  that  even  death  is  in  feveral  cafes, 
the  confequence  of  taking  improper  advantages  of 
that  weaknefs.  By  our  laws,  no  man  is  allowed  to 
take  a  woman  of  any  rank  or  condition,  and  oblige 
her  to  marry  him,  under  pain  of  imprifonment  for 


,:o  THE  HISTORY 

two  years,  and  a  fme  at  the  pleafure  of  the  king. 
But  he  who  forcibly  carries  away  an  heircfs,  and 
marries  her,  even  though  he  fhould  obtain  her  con- 
feut  after  the  forcible  abduction,  fubjccts  himfelf  to 
a  rtill  greater  penalty,  he  is  guilty  of  felony  without 
benefit  of  clergy;  and  there  is  hardly  any  criminal 
whom  the  law  purities  to  death  with  more  iteady 
and  unrelenting  fe  verity.  Women  are,  on  account 
of  their  weaknefs,  and  the  better  to  prderve  the 
modefty  of  their  fex,  excufed  from  ferving  all  kinds 
of  public  offices;  and  fucch  as  are  under  twelve  years 
of  age,  which  is  the  time  fixed  by  the  law  for  being 
marriageable,  if  forced  into  marriage,  or  even  (edu- 
ced to  confent  to  it,  may  afterwards  refufe  to  the 
husband  the  rights  of  matrimony,  and  have  the  roar* 
ria?e  declared  null  and  of  no  effect. 

In  no  inftance  has  the  law  exerted  itfelf  more 
ftrenuoufly,  than  in  guarding  women  from  rape 
and  violence  offered  to  their  chaftity.  Their  fecu- 
rity  in  thefe  refpefrs  has,  in  every  well  regulated 
itate,  been  confidered  as  an  object  of  the  utmoft  im- 
portance, not  only  as  guaranteeing  to  themfelvcs 
that  liberty  of  refufal,  which  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  nature  feems  the  right  of  females,  but  alfo, 
as  affording  to  the  public  all  the  fecurity  which  the 
law  can  give,  for  the  the  chaftity  of  their  wives,  and 
the  legitimacy  of  their  children.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  puniihments  inflicted  on  the  perpe- 
trators of  rapes  in  feveral  periods  and  countries.  In 
Britain  thefe  punifhments  have  varied  with  the  man- 
ners of  the  times,  and  the  genius  of  the  legiflators. 
In  the  time  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  he  who  committed 
a  rape  fuffercd  death.  William  the  Conqueror 
altered  that  punifhment  to  the  lofs  of  eyes  and  emaf- 
culation,  which  difabled  the  offender  from  being 
again  guilty  of  the  like  crime.     Henry  the  Third, 


OF  WOMEN.  321 

confidering  thefe  punifnmcnts  as  too  fevere,  and 
finding  that  a  power  io  extenfive  lodged  in  the  hands 
of  all  forts  of  women,  was  often  abufed  from  mo- 
tives of  refentment,  and  a  defire  of  revenge  upon 
thofe  who  had  (lighted  or  other  wife  ill-treated  them, 
ordained,  that  a  rape,  when  not  profecuted  within 
forty  days,  mould  only  be  confidered  as  a  fimple 
trefpafs,  and  punifhed  by  two  years  imprifonment 
and  a  fine,  at  the  pleafure  of  the  crown  ;  and  even 
when  it  was  profecuted  within  the  forty  days,  the 
king  referved  entirely  to  himfelf  the  power  of  pun- 
ifliing  the  offender,  having  made  trial  of  this  me- 
thod, and  finding  it  was  far  from  being  fufficient  to 
euard  the  fair  fex  from  violence  and  infult,  he  at 
lad  made  the  commifiion  of  a  rape,  felony  ;  finding 
even  this  defence  too  weak,  he,  fome  time  after, 
was  obliged  to  make  it  felony  without  benefit  of 
clergy.  And  fo  careful  has  the  Jaw  been  to  fecure 
all  women  of  whatever  character  or  condition,  that 
even  the  molt  common  proftitutcs  have  in  this  cafe 
the  fame  powers  and  privileges  as  other  women. 

In  almofl:  all  other  cafes,  whether  civil  or  crimi- 
nal,  parties  cannot  be  witneffes  for  themfelves  ;  a 
woman,  however,  who  is  ravilhed,  may  give  evi- 
dence upon  her  oath,  and  is  in  law  not  only  confi- 
dered as  a  competent  witnefs,  but  may,  by  her  fole 
teflimony  prove  the  fact,  and  deprive  the  aggrefTor 
of  his  life.  In  fome  meafure  to  counteract,  the  exor- 
bitance of  this  power,  and  fecure  the  lives  of  the 
men  from  being  facrificed  to  rique  and  refentment, 
the  credibility  of  her  teflimony  is  left  entirely  in  the 
breaft  ofthe  jury,  to  be  judged  of  from  the  tenour 
of  her  conduct,  and  the  circumftances  that  occur  in 
the  trial.  This  power  of  being  a  witnefs  in  her  own 
caufe,  in  cafes  of  afiault,  is  not  confined  to  fuch 
women  only  as  are  allowed  by  the  law  to  be  com- 


322  THE  HISTORY 

petent  witneffes  in  other  cafes,  it  is  extended  even 
to  infants,  and  (lie  who  is  under  twelve  years  of  age 
may  be  a  competent  witnefs  againfl  a  man  who  has 
abufed  her,  provided  me  has  attained  a  fufficient 
degree  of  underflanding  to  know  the  nature  of  an 
oath  :  nor  does  the  privilege  of  the  fex  in  this  par- 
ticular inflance  (lop  even  here  ;  it  is  extended  to  a 
length  unknown  in  moil  other  cafes  ;  if  a  man  has 
been  tried  and  condemned  for  a  rape,  ;md  is  after- 
wards pardoned,  the  woman  may,  by  an  appeal, 
have  him  tried  again  for  the  fame  offence.  A  mar- 
ried woman  may  fue  her  raviiher  in  any  criminal 
court,  without  the  confent  or  approbation  of  her 
husband  ;  and  to  mm  up  all,  a  woman  may  even 
kill  a  man  who  attempts  to  ravifh  her. 

Such  extenfive  privileges,  veiled  in  a  fex  fo  much 
guided  by  the  impulfes  of  paffion,and  fo  fufceptible  of 
the  flrongefl  and  mod  implacable  refentment,  has  by 
many  been  confidered  as  a  violent  flretch  of  legal  au- 
thority, whereby  the  balance  of  juflice,  which  ought 
in  all  cafes  to  be  equal,  is  evidently  made  to  prepon- 
derate in  favour  of  the  one  fex,  in  prejudice  to  the 
other.  But  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  confider 
the  weaknefs  of  that  fex,  the  violence  of  ours,  and 
the  neceflity  which  humanity  and  the  rules  of  fociety 
lay  us  under  of  defending  them  ;  when  to  thefe  we 
add,  the  impoffibility,  in  this  cafe,  of  framing  a  law 
which  mail  anfwer  the  intention  of  the  legiflator, 
and  lay  neither  of  the  fexes  under  any  difadvantage  ; 
and  that  much  greater  evils  would  arife  to  fociety, 
were  women  fubject  to  the  affaults  of  every  rude 
invader,  than  from  the  powers  with  which  they  are 
inverted,  we  cannot  help  thinking,  that  this  law,  as 
it  (lands  at  prefent,  is,  perhaps,  the  bell  that  the 
nature  of  the  cafe  will  admit  of. 


OF  WOMEN.  323 

BefiJes  thefe  powers  which  are  vefled  in  the  fe- 
male for  the  protection  and  defence  of  her  chaftity, 
when  ihe  has  fuffered  herfelf  to  be  feduced  from  this 
virtue  by  fraud,  or  by  the  imbecility  of  human 
nature,  the  law  confers  on  her  another  power,  that 
of  afcertaining,  by  her  oath  before  a  jufiice  of  the 
peace,  the  father  of  her  child.  In  all  other  matters 
of  litigation,  whether  civil  or  criminal,  the  perfon 
accufed  has  liberty  to  bring  an  exculpatory  proof: 
but  here,  as  the  nature  of  the  crime  is  luppofed  to 
have  ftronger  motives  to  wifli  for  exculpation  than 
the  woman  can  have  to  give  her  child  to  a  wrong 
father,  no  exculpatory  proof  is  admitted,  but  fuch 
as  renders  the  commiiTion  of  the  crime  impoffible. 
In  Scotland  the  reverie  of  this  is  the  cafe  ;  there, 
the  legiflator  confidering  it  as  an  extravagant  power 
for  a  woman  to  be  able  to  oblige  whoever  flie  pleafes 
to  father  her  child,  and  confiding  in  the  religious 
veracity  of  the  man,  has  veiled  in  him  the  power  of 
exculpating  himfelf ;  an  unmarried  woman  with  child 
is  obliged  to  difcover  to  the  minifter  and  elders  of 
the  parifti,  who  is  the  father  ;  they  fummon  him 
before  them,  and  if  he  denies  it,  he  may  exculpate 
himfelf  by  oath  ;  this  oath,  of  the  mod  tremendous 
nature,  in  which  he  invokes  all  the  curfes  of  hea- 
ven to  light  on  his  devoted  head  if  he  fwears  falfely, 
is  administered  to  him  by  the  mini  tier,  in  prefence  of 
the  whole  congregation  ;  and  is  fo  replete  with  ter- 
ror, that  it  is  fuppefed  very  few  men  have  had  the 
temerity  to  venture  on  it,  who  were  not  innocent.— 
The  church  alfo  afiumes  a  power  in  Scotland  of 
making  every  woman  of  whatever  rank  or  condition, 
fubmit  to  certain  penance,  and  declare  the  father  of 
her  baftard  child,  otherwife  they  deny  her  thefacra- 
ment ;  and  if  {lie  continues  obltinate,  at  lad  excom- 
municate her.  In  England,  the  church  feldom  inter- 
feres with  the  matter;  nor  have  the  church  wardens 


324  THE  HISTORY 

any  legal  right  to  carry  a  woman  before  a  juftice 
who  is  pregnant  with  a  baflard  child,  unlefs  {he  is 
likely  to  become  chargeable  to  the  parifh;  and  even 
then,  they  cannot  compel  her  to  go  before  a  juflice, 
nor  can  he  fummon  her  before  him,  till  at  leafl  one 
month  after  her  delivery.  We  have  juft  now  feen, 
that  the  only  punifhment  which  the  laws  of  Scotland 
allow  of  being  inflicted  on  a  woman  for  having  a 
baftard  child,  is  to  make  her  do  penance  in  the  church. 
In  England  the  church  exacts  no  penance,  but  a  juf- 
tice  of  the  peace  may  oblige  her,  if  in  proper  cir- 
cumflances,  to  defray  fome  part  of  the  maintenance 
of  her  child  ;  and  on  refufal  may  commit  her  to  the 
houfe  of  correction.  Such  are  the  laws  which  re- 
gard women  who  are  fettled  in  a  place,  and  who, 
though  they  ha\re  fallen  victims  to  feduction,  or  their 
own  frailty,  are  not  become  abfolutely  abandoned  ; 
but  a  va?rant  woman,  when  delivered  of  a  baftard 
child  in  any  parifh  where  flic  is  begging,  may,  by 
the  order  of  a  juftice,  rbe  committed  to  the  houfe  of 
correction,  and  puniilied  with  whipping  by  the 
quarter  feilion. 

As  licentioufnefs  of  manners,  fickleriefs  of  temper, 
or  a  fraudulent  intention  of  debauching  a  woman 
under  pretence  of  marriage,  frequently  induce  the 
more  giddy  or  worthlefs  of  our  fex,  to  addrefs, 
fwear,  and  make  promifes  to  a  woman  without  any 
intention  of  marrying  her;  and  as  it  is  impolTible  in 
all  cafes  for  the  fex  to  difcover  the  real  lover  from  the 
impoffcor;  that  they  may  not  be  altogether  without 
redrefs  when  fo  cheated,  the  law  of  England  ordains 
that  when  a  man  courts  a  woman,  promifes  to  marry 
her,  and  afterwards  marries  another,  me  may,  by 
an  acYion  at  law,  recover  fuc'h  damages,  as  a  jury 
fhall  think  adequate  to  the  lofs  me  has  fuftained.  In 
Scotland,  it  is  laid,  (lie  may  recover  one  half  of  the 


OF  WOMEN.  325 

fortune  he  receives  with  his  wife.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  it  fometimes  happens,  that  artful  women 
draw  on  the  more  fond  and  filly  part  of  our  fex,  to 
make  them  valuable  preients  under  pretence  of  mar- 
riage, and  afterwards •  laugh  at,  or  refufe  to  many 
them  :  a  man  who  has  been  fo  bubbled  may  fue  the 
woman  to  return  the  prefents  he  made  her,  becaufe 
they  were  prefumed  to  have  been  conditionally  given, 
and  die  failed  in  performing  her  part  of  that  con- 
dition. 

Thofe  perfonal  privileges,  and  the  few  reitriction s 
upon  them  which  we  have  here  enumerated,  are 
chiefly  fuch  as  regard  unmarried  women  :  we  fhali 
now  proceed  to  relate  fome  of  the  more  peculiar 
advantages  and  difadvantages  of  thofe  who  have 
entered  into  the  ftate  of  wedlock. 

By  the  laws  of  this  country,  the  moment  a  woman 
enters  into  the  (late  of  matrimony,  her  political 
exigence  is  annihilated,  or  incorporated  into  that  of 
her  husband;  but  by  this  little  mortification  flic  is 
no  lofer,  and  her  apparent  lofs  of  confequence  is 
abundantly  eoiapenfated  by  a  long  lift  of  extenfive 
privileges  and  immunities,  which,  for  the  encou- 
ragement of  matrimony,  were,  perhaps,  contrived 
to  give  married  women  the  advantage  over  thofe  that 
are  iingle.       Of  ali  the  privileges  which  nature  ha.^ 

:! erred  upon  us,  none  are  fo  precious  and  ineili- 
mable  as  perfonal  liberty.  Men  of  all  ranks  and 
conditions,  an.i  women  who  are  unmarried,  or 
widows,  may  be  deprived  of  this  for  debts  contracted 
by  themfclves,  or  by  others  for  whom  they  have 
given  fecurity;  but  wives  cannot  be  impriioncd  for 
debt,  nor  deprived  of  their  perfonal  liberty  for  any 
thing  but  crimes;  and  even  fuch  of  rhefs  as  fubje£t 
the  offender  only  to  a  pecuniary  puniinmsnt  mufl  be 

vol.  11.  'J'  t 


326  THE  HISTORY 

expiated  by  the  hufband.  No  married  woman  is 
liable  to  pay  any  debt,  even  though  contracted  with- 
out the  knowledge,  or  agateft  the  confent,  of  her 
husband;  and  what  is  full  more  extraordinary,  what- 
ever debts  Ihe  may  have  contracted  while  fingle,  de- 
volve, the  moment  of  her  marriage,  upon  the  huf- 
band,  who,  like  the  fcape-goat,  is  loaded  by  the 
prieft  who  performs  ceremony  with  all  the  fins  and 
extravagances  of  his  wife.  It  is  a  common  opinion 
among  the  vulgar,  that  a  general  warning  in  the  Ga- 
zette, or  in  a  news-paper,  will  exempt  a  man  from 
the  payment  of  fuch  debts  as  are  contracted  by  his 
v.  ire  without  his  knowledge,  but  this  opinion  is  with- 
out any  good  foundation;  particular  warnings  how- 
ever, giving  in  writing,  have  been  held  as  good  ex- 
emptions; but  fuch  are  of  little  advantage  to  a  huf- 
band,  as  his  wife  may  always  find  people  to  give  her 
credit,  whom  the  hufband  has  not  cautioned  againft 
it. 

So  long  as  a  wife  cohabits  with  her  hufband,  he 
is,  by  the  laws  of  his  country,  obliged  to  provide 
her  with  food,  drink,  clothing,  and  all  other  neccf- 
faries  ilii  table  to  her  rank  and  his  circumftances, 
even  although  he  received  no  fortune  with  her,  or 
forces  her  to  leave  him  by  ill  ufuge;  he  is  alfo  liable 
to  maintain  her  in  the  fame  manner;  but  if  ihe  runs 
away  from  him,  and  he  is  willing  that  Ihe  fhould 
abide  in  his  houfe,  he  is  not  Jiabie  to  give  her  any 
feparate  maintenance,  nor  to  pay  any  of  her  debts, 
unlefs  he  take  her  again;  in  which  cafe  he  mud  pay 
whatever  fhe  contracts,  whether  (he  behave  herfelf 
ill  or  well:  when  a  hufband  forces  his  wife  to  leave 
him  by  cruel  ufage,  fhe  may  claim  a  feparate  main- 
tenance; but  while  fhe  enjoys  that,  he  fhali  not  be 
liable  to  pay  any  of  her  debts. 


OF  WOMEN.  cu7 

As  perfonal  fafety  is  of  all  other  ^privileges  the 
greateft  and  moft  valuable,  and  as  weaknefs  may 
often  be  expofed  to  danger  when  in  the  hands  of 
power,  the  laws  of  this  country  have  taken  the  moft. 
effectual  method  of  fecuring  the  fafety  of  married 
women.  When  a  huiband,  from  malicioufnefs  of 
temper,  or  refentment,  or  any  other  caufe,  -threat- 
ens, or  actually  beats  his  wife,  me  may  demand 
fecurity  for  his  future  good  behaviour;  and  on  ap- 
plication to  any.juftice  of  the  peace,  fuch  jullice  is 
obliged  to  make  the  hufband  iind  fuch  fecurity.  And 
when  a  huiband,  confeicus  of  having  ufed  his  wife 
ill,  will  not  allow  her  to  go  out  of  his  houfe,  or  car- 
ries her  away,  or  keeps  her  concealed,  in  order  to 
prevent  her  endeavouring  to  find  redfefs  for  the  evils 
that  fhe  fufFers,  her  friends  may  in  that  cafe,  by 
applying  to  the  court  of  King's  Bench,  obtain  an 
order  for  the  huiband  to  produce  his  wife  before  the 
faid  court:  and  if  the  there  fwears  the  peace  again!! 
him,  lhe  delivers  herfelf  from  his  jurifdiclion,  and 
he  cannot  compel  her  to  go  to  live  with  him,  but  the 
court  will  grant  her  an  order  to  live  where  fiie  pleafes; 
and  mould  he  attempt  to  force  her  to  do  otherwife, 
it  would  be  a  breach  of  the  king's  peace,  by  which 
he  would  be  fubjected  to  the  penalties  annexed  to 
fuch  breach. 

When  a  wife  is  beaten  by  any  perfon,  fo  as  to  be 
difabled  from  managing  her  family  affairs,  the  huf- 
band is  by  law  entitled,  to  fuch  damages  on  that 
account  from  the  offender  as  a  jury  (hall  think  fit  to 
give;  but  if  an  attack  is  made  upon  a  man's  wife  in 
his  pretence,  the  law  confidcrs  the  attack  as  made  up- 
on himfeif,  and  gives  him  the  lame  liberty  of  defend- 
ing her  that  it  allows  in  defending  himfelf :  nor  dees 
it  flop  at  the  attacks  made  on  her  perfon :  if  her  pro- 
perty is  in  danger,  he  may  repel  force  by  force,  and 


5^3  THE  HISTORY 

the  breach  of  the  peace  which  happens  on  that  ac- 
count is  only  chargeable  on  the  aggreffor;  but  care 
mult  be  taken  that  fuch  defence  do  not  exceed  what 
is  heceffary  for  prevention ;  for  if  it  does,  the  de- 
fender becomes  himfelf  an  aggreffor.  Among  the 
Romans,  among  feveral  other  ancient  nations,  and 
among  fome  people  in  the  'prefent  times,  it  is 
not  deemed  culpable  for  a  hufband  to  kill  the  man 
whom  he  furprifes  commiting  adultery  with  his  wife. 
By  the  laws  of  England,  he  who  mould  do  fo,  would 
be  reckoned  guilty  of  manflaughter;  but  in  confe- 
quence  of  the  enormous  provocation  given,  the  court 
commonly  orders  the  fentence  of  burning  on  the  hand 
to  be  inflicted  in  the  flighted:  manner. 

As  it  is  confidered  by  the  legiilature  as  advantage- 
ous to  population  as  well  as  conducive  to  the  harmo- 
ny of  fociety,  that  every  married  couple  mould  live 
together,  the  law  ordains  that  no  man  take  away 
a  wife  from  her  hufband,  neither  by  force,  nor  by 
fraud,  nor  by  her  own  confent;  and  he  who  tranf- 
greffes  this  order,  is  liable  to  a  writ  of  trefpafs,  oir 
au  action  of  ravifhment,  by  which  he  (hall  be  obli- 
ged to  pay  damages  to  the  injured  hufband,  and 
fufFer  imprisonment  for  two  years:  but  this  is  not 
the  utmoff.  extent  of  the  law,  for  it  alfo  intitles  a  huf- 
band to  damages,  not  only  againft  the  perfon  who 
a&ually  takes  away  his  wife,  but  alfo  againft  him  who 
entices  or  perfuades  her  to  live  fcparately  from  him. 
The  ancient  laws  of  England  are  faid  to  have  been 
fo  ftricr.  in  this  particular,  that  when  a  wife  happen- 
ed to  mifs  her  way,  the  man  who  found  her  might 
not  even  take  her  to  his  houfe  unlefs  fhc  v.  as  benight- 
ed, in  danger  of  being  drowned,  of  falling  iflto  the 
hands  of  robbers,  or  of  being  devoured  by  wild 
1  eaftfc;  but  aftranger  might  carry  her  on  horfebaek 


OF  WOMEN.  529 

to  the  ncareft  market-town,  or  juftice  of  the  peace, 
thereto  remain,  till  claimed  by  her  hu fb and. 

As  the  wife  is  not  allowed  to  leave  the  hufband, 
fo  neither  may  the  hufband  abandon  his  wife ;  and  if 
he  does  fo,  without  mewing  a'fufEcient  caufe,  fhe 
may  enter  a  fuit  againft  him  for  reltiiuticn  of  the 
rights  of  marriage ;  and  the  fpiritual  court  will  com- 
pel him  to  return,  to  live  with  her,  and  to  reflcre 
them.  But  the  law  extends  its  privileges  to  married 
women  flill  farther,  and  grants  them  immunities 
almoft  fcarcely  compatible  with  the  rules  of  civil 
fociety  and  the  public  fafety ;  if  a  wife  commit  felony 
in  the  company  of  her  huiband,  it  fuppofes  fhe  did 
it  by  his  compulfon,  and  on  that  account  abfolves 
her  from  the  punifhment  commonly  inflicled  en  inch 
delinquents:  if  a  wife  take  away  the  goods  of  her 
huiband  without  his  knowledge,  and  fell  them,  nei- 
ther the  wife  who  ftole  them,  nor  the  perfon  who 
bought  them  of  her,  are  confidered  as  guilty  of  felo- 
ny. A  wife  may  receive  and  conceal  her  hufband 
if  he  is  guilty  of  felony  of  any  other  crime  ;  for  this 
aclion  of  concealment  is  only  confidered  in  her  as 
felf-prefervation,  an  inflinct  which  no  law  can  take 
away  or  deftroy.  If  a  wife  receives  ffolen  goods 
into  her  houfe,  and  fecretes  them  from  her  husband, 
the  law  will  neverthelefs  impute  the  crime  to  the 
husband,  unlefs  he  either  divulges  the  matter  to  a 
magi'ftrate,  or  leaves  his  houfe  as  foon  as  he  difco- 
vers  the  crime.  Though  wives  are  thus  far  indulged 
by  the  law,  yet  they  are  not  emancipated  from  the 
punilhment  it  infli&s,  when  they  commit  robbery, 
treafon,  or  murder,  although  in  the  company  of, 
and  by  the  coercion  of,  their  husbands. 

As  a  wife  always  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  mana- 
ger of  her    hufband's   family,   ihe  cemmenly  has 


33o  THE  HISTORY 

fervants  under  her  care,  whom  me  neither  can  com- 
pel to  do  their  duty  by  force,  nor  defend  herfelf 
againft,  fhould  they  be  inclined  to  offer  her  any  ill 
ufage  ;  the  law,  therefore,  ordains,  that  if  any  fer- 
vant  or  labourer  aflault  or  beat  his  miftrefs,  he  mall 
fuffer  one  year's  imprifonment,  or  corporal  puniih- 
ment,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  crime.  All 
women,  whether  married  or  otherwife,  ■  who  are 
pregnant,  are  likewife  peculiarly  defended  by  the 
law  ;  as  every  aiTault  upon  them,  while  in  this  date, 
does  not  only  more  eafily  endanger  their  life,  but 
alfo  the  life  of  the  child  ;  every  affault  of  fuch  kind 
is  therefore  punifhed  with  more  exemplary  feverky  : 
any  woman  alfo,  who  is  capitally  convicted,  whe- 
ther married  or  fingle,  may  plead  pregnancy  in  arreft 
of  the  execution  of  her  fentence  ;  and  if  (he  is  really 
found  with  child,  her  plea  will  be  fuftained  ;  for  it 
would  be  highly  unjuft,  that  the  innocent  fhould  be 
deflroyed  with  the  guilty. 

Although  a  hufband  is,  by  the  laws  of  this  coun- 
try, veiled  with  a  power  over  all  the  goods  and 
chattels  of  his  wife,  yet  he  cannot  devife  by  his  will 
fuch  of  her  ornaments  and  jewels  as  flic  is  accuftom- 
ed  to  wear,  though  it  has  been  held  that  he  may,  if 
he  pleafes,  difpofe  of  them  in  his  lifetime.  A  huf- 
band h  alfo  liable  to  anfwer  all  fuch  actions  at  law  as 
were  attached  againft  his  wife  at  the  time  of  their 
marriage,  and  to  pay  all  her  debts  contracted  before 
that  time  ;  but  if  his  wife  fhall  happen  to  die  before 
he  has  made  payment  of  fuch  debrs,  the  compact 
which  made  them  one  flem,  and  binded  their  inter- 
efts  into  one,  being  difTolved,  the  hufband  is  there- 
by abfolved  from  paying  her  antinuptial  debts.  A 
married  woman  may  purchafe  an  cftate,  and  if  the 
hufband  docs  not  enter  his  difTcnt  before  the  convey- 
ance, he  (hall  be  confidered  as  having  given   fuch 


OF  WOMEN.  231 

confent,  and  the  conveyance  be  good  and  valid.  A 
wife  who  is  accuftomed  to  trade,'  may  fell  goods  in 
an  open  market  ;  and  fuch  goods  a  hufband,  by  vir- 
tue of  his  authority  over  her,  fhali  not  have  any 
power  to  reclaim.  Even  the  feudal  barons,  and  the 
church,  which  formerly  laid  her  rapacious  hands 
almofl  upon  every  thing,  in  feveral  cafes  exempted 
the  women :  the  baron  could  not  claim  a  heriot  or 
gift  on  the  death  of  his  female  vaflal,  nor  can  any 
mortuary  gift,  at  this  day,  be  exacted  by  the 
church,  on  the  death  of  a  woman,  of  whatever  pro- 
perty (he  was  poffeiTed. 

No  woman  can  lofe  any  rank  which  fhe  derived 
from  her  birth,  by  marrying  the  meaneft  plebeian  ; 
but  though  defcended  of  the  lowed  of  the  human 
race  herfelf,  (lie  may  by  marriage  be  raifed,  in  this 
country,  to  any  rank  beneath  the  fovereignty.  No 
woman  can  by  marriage  confer  a  fettlement  in  any 
pariili  on  her  husband  ;  but  every  man  who  has  a 
legal  fettlement  himfelf,  confers  the  fame  fettlement 
by  marriage'*  on  his  wife.  Though  a  husband  and 
his  wife  are  by  the  law  considered  fo  much  as  one 
perfon,  that  they  are  rarely  admitted  as  evidence  for 
or  againft  each  other,  yet  this  rule  has  in  feme  in- 
itances  been  departed  from,  even  in  cafes  not  ftric"riy 
criminal,  and  a  wife  has  been  admitted  evidence  to 
prove  a  cheat  put  upon  her  husband. 

Belldes  the  advantages  we  have  now  mentioned, 
to  which  every  married  woman  has  a  right  by  the 
general  laws  of  matrimony  as  they  now  Hand  in  Bri- 
tain, there  are  others  which  they  may  enjoy  by  pri- 
vate contract.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing,  in  the  pre- 
lent  times,  for  the  matrimonial  bargain  to  be  made 
fo,  as  that  the  wife  fhali  retain  the  fole  and  ahfjlute 
power  of  enjoying  and  difpofing  qi  her  own  £01 


332  THE  HISTORY 

in  the  fame  manner  as  if  (lie  were  not  married ;  by 
which  inequitable  bargain,  the  husband  is  debar- 
red from  enjoying  any  of  the  rights  of  matrimony, 
except  the  perfon  of  his  wife.  But  this  is  not  all : 
if  the  wife,  too,  were  curtailed  in  her  privileges, 
the  bargain  would  be  in  fome  degree  equitable:  this, 
however,  is  fo  far  from  being  the  cafe,  that  it  is 
quite  the  reverfe;  the  husband  becomes  thereby  lia- 
ble to  pay  all  the  debts  which  his  wife  may  burden 
him  with,  even  though  me  have  abundance  of  her 
own  to  anfwer  that  purpofe;  he  is  aifo  obliged 
to  maintain  her,  though  her  circumftances  may 
be  more  opulent  than  his  ;  and  if  he  mould  die 
before  her,  (he  has  a  right  to  a  third  of  his  real  eftate 
and  to  whatever  is  cudomary  for  widows  to  have 
out  of  his  perfonals ;  while,  if  (lie  dies  before  him, 
he  is  not  entitled  to  the  value  of  one  fmgle  half-pen- 
ny, uuleis  (he  has  deviled  it  to  him  by  will.  Thefe 
a.re  obvious  di  fad  Vantages  on  the  part  of  the  huf- 
baad'jj  but,  what  is  (till  warfe,  fuch  a  bargain  over- 
turns the  natural  order  of  things-  and  deftrovs  that 
authority,  which  the  gofpel  and  the  laws  of  this 
country  give  a  man  over  his  wife,  and  that  obedi- 
ence and  fubjeftion  which  the  rules  of  chriilianity 
prescribe  in  the  deportment  of  a  wife  toward  her 
husband. 

Such  are  the  privileges  and  immunities  which  the 
women  of  this  country  derive  from  marriage,  and 
which  they  enjoy  from  the  moment  that  they  enter 
into  that  (fate;  but  there  are  others  of  a  pofthu- 
mous  nature,  and  thefe  are  only  rcferved  for  them 
if  they  fur vive  their  husbands.  When  a  woman,  on 
her  entrance  into  matrimouy,  gives  up  her  fortune 
to  the  power  and  difcretion  of  her  husband  ;  or,  per- 
haps, when  me  has  no  fortune,  when,  through  a 
long  and  tedious  courfe  of  years,  ilie  join;  her  c 


OF  WOMEN.  333 

management,  labour,  and  indullry  to  his;  nothing 
can  be  more  reafonable,  than  that  (he  mould  be  pro- 
vided for,  in  cafe  of  his  dying  before  her;  and  it 
would  be  a  capital  defect  in  the  laws  of  civil  fociety, 
to  leave  this  provifion  altogether  in  the  power  of 
individuals,  by  whom  it  might  frequently  be'difre- 
garded  or  neglected,  and  the  widows  even  of  fuch 
hufbands  as  had  died  in  affluence,  left  to  experience 
all  the  hardiliips  of  want  and  poverty;  to  prevent 
which  the  law  of  this  country  has  wifely  ordered, 
that  every  widow  mail  have  a  reafonable  dower  out 
of  the  effects  or  eftates  of  her  deceafed  husband, 
even  though  there  was  no  marriage-iettlement,  or 
though,  in  fuch  fettlement,  no  dower  was  flipula- 
ted  to  the  wife. 

Dowers,  as  it  is  fuppofcd,  were  firil  introduced 
into  England  by  the  Daniih  kings,  and  into  Den- 
mark, by  Swein,  the  father  of  ditr  Canute  the 
Great,  who  bellowed  on  the  Danifh  ladies  this  pri- 
vilege as  a  grateful  acknowledgement  of  theirhaving 
parted  with  their  jewels  to  ranfom  him  from  captivity, 
when  takeri  prifoner  by  the  Vandals,  Dower  out  of 
lands  was  unknown  among  the  Anglo-Saxons;  for, 
by  the  laws  of  king  Edward,  the  widow7  of  any  one 
who  dies,  is  directed  to  be  fupported  entirely  out  of 
his  perfonal  eftate;  but  afterwards,  a  widow  became 
entitled  to  a  (hare  in  one-half  of  the  kinds  of  her 
deceafed  husband,  fo  long  as  (he  remained  chafle 
and  unmarried;  conditions  which  feem  anciently  to 
have  been  annexed  to  all  dowers  in  this  country;  on 
a  fuppofition,  perhaps,  that  the  dread  of  falling 
into  poverty  would  be  the  ilrongeft  inducement  to 
continence,  and  that  if  (lie  married  another  husband, 
all  the  obligations  which  bound  the  eitates  and  effects 
of  the  former  to  maintain  her,  from  that  moment 
ceafed  to  exift.      Such  was  the  cafe  for  feme  time 

vol.  it.  U  u 


334  THE  HISTORY 

after  dowers  were  inilituted;  but  thefe  conditions 
were  afterward  only  required  of  a  widow,  when  her 
husband  left  any  children,  and  in  time  they  fell 
entirely  into  difufe;  fo  that  at  prefent  a  widow  may 
claim  her  dower,  whether  me  is  chafte  and  unmar- 
ried or  oiherwiie ;  but  no  woman  can  claim  her 
dower,  who  was  not  actually  the  wife  of  a  man  at 
the  time  of  his  deceafe:  a  divorce,  therefore,  from 
the  chains  of  matrimony  takes  away  all  right  to  a 
dower;  but  a  divorce  only  from  bed  and  board, 
although  for  the  crime  of  adultery,  has  no  iuch 
effecT:.  A  woman  who  runs  away  from  her  husband, 
and  lives  with  an  adulterer,  lofes  her  right  to  dower, 
unlefs  the  husband  is  reconciled  to,  and  takes  her 
back.  As  every  foreigner  is  by  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, incapable  of  holding  lands,  therefore  the  wife 
who  is  an  alien  is  entitled  to  no  dower  out  of  the  land. 
of  her  husband.  The  wife  of  him  who  commits 
hisdi-treafon  is  entitled  to  no  dower:  nor  the  wife 
of  an  idiot ;  for  an  idiot,  being  incapable  of  con- 
fenting  to  any  contract,  cannot  lawfully  marry ;  and 
therefore  all  the  rights,  which  wromen  acquire  by 
marriage  are  nugatory  in  the  cafe  of  her  who  is 
joined  to  an  idiot. 

Before  marriage-fettlements  came  fo  much  into 
fafhion,  the  dower  which  wis  fettled  by  the  law,  or 
with  which  the  husband  endowed  the  wife  at  the 
time  of  marriage,  was  the  only  fecurity  (lie  had  for 
a  maintenance,  in  cafe  fhe  became  a  widow".  Rc- 
fpecting  dowers,  there  are  in  certain  places  particu- 
lar cufloms,  which  fet  afidc  the  operations  of  the 
law  in  the  diPiricls  where  they  prevail.  In  fome 
places,  cuftom  allots  to  the  widow  no  lefs  than  the 
whole  of  her  husband's  lands;  in  others  more 
moderate,  it  gives  her  only  the  half,  in  others  only  a 
quarter.  Anciently,  the  molt  common  method  of 
fettling   the   dower   of  the  wife    was,  by  publicly 


OF  WOMEN.  335 

endowing  her  at  the  church-door,  in  the  prefence  of 
all  the  company  who  were  aiTembled  at  the  marriage, 
with  the  whole,  or  ftieh  quantity  of  his  lands  as  the 
husband  thought  proper  to  bellow.  When  the  wife 
was  endowed  with  the  whole,  we  have  fome  autho- 
rities to  believe  the  husband  made  ufe  of  thefe 
words:  "  With  all  my  lands  and  tenements  I  thee 
endow."  When  he  endowed  her  with  a  part  only, 
he  gave  a  fpecific  defcription  of  fuch  part,  that  no 
doubt  might  remain  as  to  its  lituation  or  extent ;  but 
when  he  endowed  her  with  perfonal  property  only, 
then  he  ufed  to  fay,  "  With  all  my  worldly  goods 
i  thee  endow  •"  a  fpeech,  which,  being  flill  pre- 
ferved  in  our  marriage-ritual,  {hews  how  fond  we 
are'  of  continuing  forms,  even  after  the  reafons 
which  gave  birth  to  them  are  totally  extinct. 

The  dower  of  a  widow  was  formerly  neither  fub- 
jecT:  to  tolls  nor  taxes,  nor  could  even  the  king  feize 
on  it  for  a  debt  due  to  the  crown ;  but  this  privi- 
lege, being  found  greatly  to  diminifh  the  public 
revenue,  was  at  lad  difcontinued:  at  this  day,  how- 
ever, the  dower  of  a  widow  cannot  be  feized  by  the 
creditors  of  her  husband;  for  it  would  be  unjuft, 
that  me  mould  not  be  entitled  to  an  equivalent  of 
her  fortune,  or  a  recompenfe  for  her  labour  and  care, 
as  well  as  the  creditors  to'#payment  of  their  monev. 
Befides  the  dotal  right  to  a  life-rent  of  one-third  of 
the  husband's  real  eftate,  which  is  commonly  allow- 
ed by  law,  where  the  cuftom  of  the  manor  or  place 
does  not  determine  it  otherwife,  when  a  husband 
lends  money  in  the  name  of  himfelf  and  his  wife,  if 
the  wife  furvive  him,  and  there  be  enough  befides 
this  money  to  pay  his  lawful  debts,  the  wife  is 
entitled  to  it.  No  widow  can  be  endowed  out  of 
copyhold  lands,  unlefs  by  the  local  cuftom  of  the 
manor,    nor  can  me  have  any  caflle,    or  place  of 


THE  HISTORY 

defence,  as  her  dower;  forfheis  confidered  as  inca- 
pable of  managing  it,  fo  as  to  make  it  anfwer  the 
purpofes  for  which  it  was  intended. 

In  the  city  of  London,  province  of  York,  and  in 
Scotland,  the  effects  of  him  who  dies  inteftate  are 
generally  divided  according  to  the  ancient  doctrine 
of  giving  every  one  a  reasonable  ihare.  If  the  de- 
cealed  leaves  a  widow  and  children,  the  widow  is 
firft  allowed  the  furniture  of  her  bed  chamber,  and 
wearing  apparei ;  then  all  the  reft  is  divided  in  the 
following  proportions  :  if  the  deceafed  left  a  widow 
and  two  children,  the  widow  fhall  have  eight  parts 
(fix  by  the  cuftom,  and  two  by  lawj,  and  each  of  the 
children  five  (three  by  the  cuftom,  and  two  by  the 
law):  if  he  leaves  a  widow  and  one  child,  each 
{hall  have  one-half;  if  he  leaves  a  widow  and  no 
child,  the  widow  (hail  have  three-fourths  of  the 
whole,  and  the  remaining  fourth  {hall  go  to  the  next 
relation. 

As  dower,  either  by  the  common  law  or  by  the 
fpecial  cuftom  of  the  place,  was  frequentlv  coniider- 
ed  by  the  contracting  parties  as  too  great  or  too  lit- 
tle, the  prefent  times  have  hardly  left  any  thing  to 
run  in  that  channel,  the  parties  thinking  it  better  to 
ftipulate  and  agree  between  themfelvts  on  a  fpecific 
quantity  of  land  or  money,  v.  Inch  is,  previous  to  the 
marriage,  fettled  upon  the  wife  by  way  of  jointure, 
and  which  effectually  takes  away  all  her  right  to  any 
dower.  The  jointure,  thus  legally  fettled,  is  ftiil 
more  inviolate  to  the  wife  than  her  dower;  it  cannot 
be  touched  by  the  creditors  of  the  husband;  and 
though  a  dewer  be  forfeited  by  the  husband  being 
guilty  of  high  treafon,  a  jointure  is  not.  Every  join- 
ture muft  be   made  to  the  wife,  for  the  term  of  her 

•l  natural  life;  if  made  for  the  hie  of  another  per- 


OF  WOMEN.  557 

fon,  it  is  not  legal,  and  fhe  may  refufe  it,  and  claim 
the  dower  the  common  law  afligns  her.  When  a 
jointure  is  made  before  marriage,  a  wife  cannot  refufe 
it,  and  claim  her  dower  in  its  (lead,  ihe  having 
confented  to  it,  while  in  a  free  and  independent  ft  ate ; 
but  if  the  jointure  was  made  after  the  marriage,  flie 
may  refufe  it,  and  have  a  right  to  a  dower,  as  ihe 
is  then  confidered  as  having  been  obliged  to  give 
her  confent  by  the  impulfe  and  coercion  of  her  hui- 
band.  If  a  husband  fettle  upon  his  wife  a  jointure 
that  (hall  be  of  a  certain  yearly  value,  and  it  falls 
fhort  of  it,  fhe  may  commit  wade,  io  far  as  to 
make  up  her  deficiency,  though  prohibited  from  fo 
doing  in  the  deed  of  fettlement;  for  it  it  is  but  juf- 
tice,  that  the  widow  fhould  have  to  the  full  extent 
of  what  was  intended  her  by  her  husband.  The  wi- 
dow mud  have  a  right  to  enter  upon  her  jointure  im~ 
mediately  on  the  death  of  her  husband;  and  if  any 
fubfequent  period  is  fixed  for  it,  Hie  may  claim  her 
dower  in  preference. 

In  fome  parts  of  England  there  remains  f till  a  Sax- 
on cuftom,  called  Borough  Engliih,  by  which  the, 
youngefl  inflead  of  the  eldeft  fon  fuceeeds  to  the 
eftate  of  his  father;  and  the  widow,  as  guardian  of 
that  fon,  has  the  whole  eftate  for  life;  by  the  cm: 
of  thofe  lands  called  Gavelkind,  the  widow  has  no 
jointure,  but  fucceeds  to  one-half  of  the  lands  of  the 
deceafed  husband,  and  holds  them  fo  long  as  Die  re- 
mains chaile  and  unmarried.  Before  the  time  of 
William  the  Conqueror,  when  a  widow  married 
within  the  year,  {he  forfeited  her  dower,  or  join- 
ture; but  that  cuftom  long  fmce  fell  into  difu.'e,  and 
at  prefent  the  law  does  not  prefcribe  any  time  in 
which  flie  mall  not  re-marry:  cuftom,  however,fi::er. 
a  kind  of  ftigma  upon  fuch  as  take  fecond  husbands, 
before  they  have  dedicated  a  decent  time  to  grief  and 
mourning, 


33s  THE  HISTORY 

What  we  have  hitherto  mentioned  refpecting  the 
women  of  Great  Britain,  has  chiefly  regarded  thofe 
privileges  and  immunities  which  are  eftabliihed  to 
them  by  law,  or  conceded  to  them  by  cuflom ;  but 
as  this  long  lift  of  privileges  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
contrafted  with  many  difadvantages,  which  are  ne- 
cefTary,  in  civil  fociety,  to  put  the  two  fexes  nearly 
on  an  equal  footing  with  each  other,  let  us  turn  to 
the  other  fide  of  the  piclure,  and  take  a  view  •  \ 
thefe  alfo. 

The  Salique  law  of  France  excludes  a  woman 
from  governing  the  nation;  in  Britain,  we  allow  a 
woman  to  fway  our  fceptre,  but  by  law  and  cuftom 
we  debar  her  from  every  other  government  but  that 
of  her  own  family,  as  if  there  were  not  a  public  em- 
ployment between  that  of  fuperintending  the  king- 
dom, and  the  affairs  of  her  own  kitchen,  which 
could  be  managed  by  the  genius  and  capacity  of  wo- 
man. We  neither  allow  women  to  officiate  at  our 
altars,  to  debate  in  our  councils,  nor  to  fight  for  us 
in  the  field;  we  fuffer  them  not  to  be  members  of 
our  fenate,  to  pra&ife  any  of  the  learned  profellions, 
nor  to  concern  themfelves  much  with  our  trades  and 
occupations;  we  exercife  nearly  a  perpetual  guar- 
dianfhip  over  them,  both  in  their  virgin  and  their 
married  ftate;  and  (lie  who,  having  laid  a  husband 
in  the  grave,  enjoys  an  independent  fortune,  is 
almoft  the  only  woman  who  among  us  can  be  call- 
ed free.  Thus  excluded  almoft  from  every  thing 
which  can  give  them  confequence,  they  derive  the 
greater  part  of  the  power  which  they  enjoy,  from 
their  charms  ;  and  thefe,  when  joined  to  fenfibility, 
often  fully  compenfate,  in  this  refpeft,  for  all  the 
difadvantages  they  are  laid  under  by  law,  and  by 
cuflom. 


OF  WOMEN.  339 

As  the  poiTeffion  of  property  is  one  of  the  mod: 
valuable  of  all  political  bleffings,  and  generally  car- 
ries the  poffeffion  of  power  and  authority  along  with 
it,  one  of  the  moil  peculiar  difadvantages  in  the  con- 
dition of  our  women  is,  their  being  poflponed  to  all 
males  in  the  fuccelfion  to  the  inheritance  of  landed 
eftates,  and  their  being  generally  allowed  much 
(mailer  ihares  than  the  man,  even  of  the  money  and 
effecls  of  their  fathers  and  anceftors,  when  this  mo- 
ney or  thofe  effects  are  given  them  in  the  lifetime  of 
their  parents,  or  devifed  to  them  by  will ;  for  other- 
wife,  that  is,  if  the  father  dies  inteflate,  they  fliare 
equally  with  fons  in  all  perfonal  property.  When 
an  eftate,  in  default  of  male  heir0,,  defcends  to  the 
daughters,  the  common  cuftom  of  England  is,  that 
the  eldefr.  ihall  not,  in  the  fame  manner  as  an  eldefr. 
fon,  inherit  the  whole,  but  all  the  daughters  flia.ll 
have  an  equal  fhare  in  it.  Weftmoreland,  however, 
and  fome  other  places,  are  exceptions  to  this  general 
rule,  and  the  eldeft  daughter,  there,  fucceeds  to 
the  whole  of  the  land  in  preference  to  all  the  other 
fillers. 

In  fome  ancient  dates,  where  the  women  had  at- 
tained a  confiderable  degree  of  importance,  the  right 
of  inheritance  from  an  anceflor  devolved  equally  upon 
the  males  and  females.  Among  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, however,  from  whom  all  Europe  at  firft  de- 
rived the  origin  of  its  laws,  the  fons  fucceeded  in 
preference  to  the  daughters.  In  France,  and  every 
other  kingdom  where  the  feudal  fyftem  was  intro- 
duced, women  were  totally  excluded  from  the  inhe- 
ritance of  the  feudal  lands,  becaufe  the  baron,  of 
whom  fuch  lands  were  heid,  required  a  military 
tenant,  who  fhould  take  the  field  with  him  when 
occafion  required  ;  and  women  being  incapable  of 
this  fervjce,  were   alfo    confidered  as   incapable  of 


340  THE  HISTORY 

fucceeding  to  fuch  eflates  as  required  it.  This  rule 
was  flrictly  adhered  to  in  England  for  fome  ages 
after  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  nri\ 
introduced  the  feudal  fyftem  among  us ;  but  jn  pro- 
bete  of  time,  when  it  became  cuftomary  to  levy  mo- 
ney on  the  tenants,  inftead  of  their  perfonal  attend- 
ance in  the  field,  it  became  cuftomary  to  allow  wo- 
men to  inherit,  in  failure  of  male  iflue.  We  have 
already  obferved,  that  formerly  the  kings  of  this 
country  might  levy  an  aid  on  the  fubjects  for  the 
marriage  of  their  eldeft  daughters :  the  great  barons 
exercifed  the  fame  power  over  their  tenants,  and, 
on  the  marriage  of  their  eldeft  daughters,  obliged 
each  of  them  to  pay  what  amounted  to  above  five 
per  cent,  of  their  yearly  income.  But  this  was 
only  a  fmall  part  of  the  oppreflion  thefe  tenants  la- 
boured under  :  if  any  of  them  prefumed  to  give  his 
daughter  in  marriage  without  the  confent  of  his 
lord,  he  was  liable  to  an  action  for  defrauding  the 
lord  of  his  property,  as  the  lord  had  a  right  to  chufe 
her  a  husband,  to  make  that  husband  pay  a  fine  or 
premium,  for  providing  him  with  a  wife.  But  be- 
fides  this,  it  is  believed,  that  the  lord  claimed  a 
right  of  a  more  extraordinary  nature,  that  of  enjoy- 
ing the  wife  '  of  his  tenant  the  flrft  night ;  a  claim 
which,  however  improbable  it  may  feem  to  us,  is 
not.  altogether  incredible,  when  we  confider  the  ex- 
orbitant abufe  of  power  which  marked  with  fo  much 
infamy  the  times  we  are  fpeaking  of. 

But  beudes  thefe  laws,  which  for  the  mod  part 
operate  fo  as  to  hinder  the  fair  fex  from  getting  into 
pofieflion  of  much  property,  the  laws  of  marriage 
again  dived  them  of  fuch  property  as  they  really 
are  in  pofieflion  of;  by  marriage,  all  the  goods  and 
chattel  which  belonged  to  the  woman  become  veiled 
in  the  husband,  and  he  has   the  fame  power  over 


OF  WOMEN.  341 

them  as  fhe  had  before,  while  they  were  her  foie 
and  abfolute  properly.  When  the  wife,  how- 
ever, is  poffeiTed  of  a  real  eft/ate  in  land,  the  power 
which  the  husband  acquires  over  it  is  not  fo  exten- 
five,  he  only  gains  a  right  to  the  rents  and  profits  an- 
ting out  of  it  during  the  continuance  of  the  marriage ; 
but  if  a  living  child  is  born  to  him,  though  it  fhould 
die  in  a  very  fhort  time,  he  becomes,  in  that  cafe, 
tenant  for  life,  by  the  courtefy  of  the  country  :  if 
there  happens  to  be.  no  child,  then  at  the  demife  of 
the  wife  the  eftate  goes  to  her  heirs  at  law  ;  but  the 
property  of  her  goods  and  chattels  devolves  upon 
the  husband,  wh  j  has  the  fole  and  obfolute  power 
of  difpofmg  of  them  according  to  his  pleafure. 

Every  married  woman  is  confidered  as  a  minor, 
and  cannot  do  any  deed  which  affects  her  real  or 
perfonal  property  without  the  confent  of  her  huf- 
band,  and  if  (he  does  any  fuch  deed,  it  is  not  valid, 
and  the  husband  may  claim  the  property  (lie  difpofed 
of,  as  if  no  fuch  difpofal  had  been  made.  As  a 
married  woman  cannot  difpofe  of  her  property  while 
jiving,  fo  neither  does  the  law  give  her  that  power 
at  her  death.  In  the  ftatufe  of  wills,  (he  is  exprefsly 
prohibited  from  devifmg  land,  and  even  from  be- 
queathing goods  and  chattels  without  the  leave  of 
her  husband  ;  becaufe  all  inch  goods  and  chattels 
are,  without  any  limitation,  his  fole  and  abfolute 
property  ;  whether  they  were  fuch  as  the  wife 
brought  along  with  her  at  the  marriage,  or  fuch 
as  fhe  acquired  even  by  her  labour  and  induftry 
afterward. 

The  laws  of  this  country  not  only  deny  to  a  mar- 
ried woman  the  power  of  making  a  will,  but  alfo 

VOL.   II.  A  X 


3p  THE  HISTORY 

diffolve  and  render  of  no  effect:  upon  her  marriage 
all  and  every  will  (lie  may  have  made  while  fingle ; 
and  even  when  a  fingle  woman  who  has  made  her 
will  marries,  and  her  husband  dies,  the  will  Ihehad 
made,  being  invalidated  by  her  marriage,  does  not 
recover  its  validity  by  the  husband's  death.  If  a 
husband  and  wife  are  jointly  poffeiTed  of  houfes  and 
lands,  which  are  fettled  upon  the  furvivor,  if  Lhe 
husband  deitroys  himfelf,  his  wife  mall  not  have  the 
half  that  belonged  to  him  ;  it  become  the  property 
of  the  crown,  as  a  compenfation  for  the  lofs  of  a  fub- 
je£t.  When  a  husband  and  wife  agree  to  live  fepa- 
rate,  and  the  husband  covenants  to  give  her  (o  much 
a  year,  if  at  any  time  he  offers  to  be  reconciled  and 
to  take  her  home,  upon  her  refufal,  he  (hall  not 
any  longer  be  obliged  to  pay  her  a  feparate  mainte- 
nance. If  a  legacy  be  paid  to  a  married  woman 
who  lives  feparate  from  her  husband,  the  husband 
may  file  a  bill  in  chancery  to  oblige  the  perfon  who 
paid  it  to  his  wife  to  pay  it  again  to  him  with  intereit. 
If  a  wife  proves  infane,  the  husband,  as  her  proper 
guardian,  has  a  right  to  confineher  in  his  own  houfe, 
or  in  a  private  mad  houfe  ;  but  fhould  the  husband 
not  be  inclined  to  releafe  her  when  her  fenfes  return, 
a  court  of  equity  will  give  her  that  relief  which  the 
band  denies.  The  power  which  a  husband  has 
over  the  perfon  of  his  wife  does  not  feem  perfectly 
fettled  by  the  laws  of  this  country  ;  it  isneverthek-.'^ 
certain,  that  flie  is  not  to  go  abroad,  nor  to  ieave  his 
houfe  and  family,  without  his  approbation;  but 
what  coercive  methods  he  may  make  ufeof  toreflrain 
her  from  fo  doing,  or  whether  he  may  proceed  any 
farther  than  to  admonition  and  denying  her  money, 
ieems  a  point  not  altogether  agreed  upon. 


OF  WOMEN. 


543 


When  a  wife  is  injured  in  her  perfon  "or  in  her 
property,  fo  limited  is  her.  power,  that  the  cannot 
bring  an  action  for  redrefs  without  the  confent  and 
approbation  of  her  husband,  nor  any  way  but  in  his 
name  ;  if,  however,  fuch  husband  has  abjured  the 
realm,  or  is  banifhed  from  it,  he  is  confidered  as 
dead  in  lav/,  and  his  wife  in  that  cafe  may  fue  for 
redrefs  in  her  own  name  and  authority.  When"  a 
husband  and  wife  are  outlawed,  and  the  wife  appears 
in  court  without  her  husband,  me  cannot  have  the 
outlawry  taken  off,  becaufe  (he  is  confidered  only  as 
a  part  of  the  object  againft  which  the  outlawry  was 
hfued.  When  a  hufband  becomes  bankrupt,  and  is 
fufpe&ed  of  having  dealt  fraudulently  with  his  cre- 
ditors, the  commiffioners  of  the  bankruptcy  may 
fummon  his  wife  before  them,  examine  her  concern- 
ing his  affairs,  and  commit  her  to  prifon  if  flic  either 
refufes  to  aniwer  fuch  queifions  as  are  put  to  her,  or 
anfwers  them  in  a  doubtful  manner.  When  a  wi- 
dow is  endowed  of  certain  lands  and  tenements,  and 
fells  them,  the  heir  at  law  may  not  only  recover 
them  of  the  purchafer,  but  alio  refufe  to  reftore 
them  back  to  the  widow,  or  to  pay  her  any  dower 
in  their  (lead.  By  the  laws  of  England,  a  father 
only  is  empowered  to  exercrfe  a  rightful  authority 
over  his  children,  and  no  power  is  conferred  on  the 
mother,  only  fo  far  as  to  oblige  thefe  children  to  con- 
fider  her  as  a  perfon  entitled  to  duty  and  a  reveren- 
tial regard; 

Befides  the  limitations  and  reftrictions,  which  the 
laws  of  this  country  have  laid  upon  the  fair  fex,  it  is 
necelTary  for  the  good  of  fociety  that  puniihments 
mould  be  annexed  to  their  crimes  as  well  as  to  thofe 
committed  by  us;  thofe  puniihments  are  for  the  moil 
part  nearly  the  fame,  in  equal  degrees  of  delinquency 


344  THE  HISTORY 

in  either  fex,  a  few  cafes,  however,  are  excepted. 
A  woman  guilty  of  high-treafon  is  not  punifhed  in 
theiame  manner  as  a  man;  for  this  crime,  a  man  is 
condemned  to  be  hanged  up,  taken  down  alive,  and 
his  bowels  taken  out,  and  his  body  divided  into 
quarters.  A  woman  is  condemned  to  be  drawn  to 
the  place  of  execution,  and  there  burnt  to  death. 
Condemnation  to  the  flames  is  obliging  the  criminal 
to  fuffer  a  death  of  all  others  the  moil:  tremendous 
and  terrible,  and  has  been  feldom  inflicted  in  Europe 
but  by  bigoted  priefls  and  relentlefs  inquifitors;  the 
laws  of  England,  however,  reckoning  high-treafon 
and  the  murder  of  a  husband  equal  to  herefy,  con- 
demn to  the  flames  her  who  is  guilty  of  either,  fup- 
pofmg  that  a  puniihment  too  exemplary  cannot  be 
held  out  to  deter  from  the  commiiTion  of  fuch  unna- 
tural crimes.  In  Scotland,  the  woman  who  murders 
her  hufband  is  only  hung  as  a  common  felon.  In 
all  the  capital  punifhments  of  the  fex,  the  laws  of 
Britain  lay  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  decency  is  not  to 
be  violated ;  we  wiih  the  fame  delicacy  was  obferved 
in  thofe  which  are  only  intended  for  the  reformation 
of  the  culprit;  but  whipping  at  the  cart's  tail,  as 
practifed  over  all  England,  is  often  a  fhameful  in- 
flance  of  the  contrary. 

Keeping  a  houfe  for  the  purpofe  of  proflitution, 
being  a  nuifance  to  the  neighbourhood,  and  fubver- 
fivc  of  the  peace  and  order  of  fociety,  may  be  pu- 
nifhed by  Uibjecting  the  lady  abbefs  to  labour,  to 
bodily  correction,  or  to  fine  and  imprifonment  at  the 
pleafure  of  the  court.  In  the  protectorihip  of  Crom- 
well, wilful  adultery  was  capital,  and  keeping  a  bro- 
thel, or  repeatedly  committing  fornication,  were 
felony  without  benefit  ofclerpy.  At  prefenf,  adul- 
tery is  only  puniihable  in  the  fpiritual  court  by  cer- 


O  F  W  O  M  E  N.  345 

tain  penances,  and  in  the  civil  courts  by  divorce  and 
lofs  of  dower.  Adultery  was  in  Scotland  for  feve- 
ral  centuries  punifhable  by  death;  and  even  Mary, 
queen  of  Scots,  a  lady,  if  not  belied  by  fame,  no 
v/ay  remarkable  for  conjugal  fidelity,  published 
fome  of  the  fevered  edicts  againft  her  fifterhood  of 
finners  ;  but  thefe  feverities,  at  laft,  in  Scotland  as 
well  as  in  England,  and  the  laws  refpefting  adultery, 
are  now  in  both  kingdoms  nearly  upon  an  equal  foot- 
ing. For  a  variety  of  the  other  crimes  committed 
by  the  fex  againft  chaftity,  decency,  and  decorum, 
the  laws  have  hardly  devifed  any  punifhment,  leav* 
ing  the  unhappy  delinquent  to  the  flings  of  confei- 
ence,  the  lofs  of  character,  the  contempt  of  the  vir- 
tuous, and  the  vengeance  of  offended  heaven. 

To  this  fhort  account  of  punifhments.  we  fhall 
add  an  inconvenience  to  \\  hich  the  widowed  part  of 
the  fex  are  liable  in  England,  originally  brought 
upon  the  whole  by  the  indilcretion  of  a  lew. 

When  a  hufband  dies,  and  either  leaves  no  chil- 
dren, or  only  daughters  who  are  by  the  nature  of 
an  entail  cut   off  from   inheriting  his  eftate,  it  has 
fometimes  happened,  that  his  widow,  though   not 
reaily  pregnant,  has  declared  herfelf  fo,  and  at  laft 
impofed  a  ipuricus  heir  on  the  family,   in   prejudice 
of  the  real  heir  at  law;     To  prevent  Inch  abufe,  the 
ftattrtcs    concerning  widows,  allow  a  woman   forty 
weeks  after  the  death  of  her  hufband,  as  the  time 
Tor  pregnancy,  and   if  fhe   is  not  delivered  in  that 
time,  the  child  is  deemed  illegitimate  :  but   as   this 
is  far  from  being  a  fufficient  fecurity  againft  all  fraud 
and  impofturr,    they  further  empower  the  heir  at 
law,  as  foon  as  the  widow  fhall  declare  herfelf  preg- 
nant, to  have  her  examined  by  a  jury  cf  matrpnSj 

i 


346  THE  HISTORY 

and  if  they  declare  (lie  is  not  pregnant,  the  heir  may 
immediately  enter  upon  his  eftate  ;  but  if  they  de- 
clare that  fne  is  pregnant,  then  the  heir,  to  prevent 
all  fraud  and  impofition,  may  obtain  an  order  from 
the  court  of  Common  Pleas,  directing  the  Iheriif  of 
the  county  where  fhe  refides  to  confine  her  in  a 
houfe,  the  doors  of  which  mall  be  well  guarded, 
and  accefs  denied  to  all  improper  perf  jns  ;  to  caufe 
her  to  be  every  day  examined  by  iome  of  the  jury  of 
matrons,  and  alfo  to  order,  that  fome  of  them  be 
prefent  at  the  birth,  to  prevent  all  collufion,  and 
declare  whether  the  child  of  which  me  is  delivered 
be  a  male  or  female ;  fuch  treatment,  of  a  perfon 
guilty  of  no  crime,  in  a  country  where  liberty  is  the 
boafted  prerogative,  may  iuflly  be  deemed  a  pecu- 
liar hardfhip,  and  as  fuch  is,  if  pomble,  fcarcely 
ever  practifed,  except  where  depravity  of  manners, 
or  particular  malevolence  againft  the  heir  at  law 
make  it  neceflary  ;  and  even  then,  it  is  conducted 
with  the  utmoll:  caution,  and  care  is  taken  that  the 
woman  mall  have  nothing  to  complain  of  that  is  not 
abfolutely  neceflary  to  prevent  the  dreaded  impofiticn 
on  the  family. 


THE    END. 


, 


PRINTERS— LANG  &  USTICK. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


TO    THE 


SECOND  VOLUME. 


-CCOUNT  of  the  ceremony  of  a  widow 

burning  herfelf  in  Hindoftan  307 

Ad-vantages  of  men  over  women  83 

of  women  over  men  ibid. 

Adultery,  how  punifhed  among  the  Jews  230 

among  the  Egyptians  ibid. 

among  the  Hindoos  231 

in  what  it  confifts  in  Hindoftan  232 

the  feverity  with  which  they  punifh  it  when 

committed  by  women  of  fuperior  cad  234 

various    ideas  concerning  its  criminality  by 

various  nations  235 

moil  effectual  method  of  punifliing  it  with 

lead  feverity  ibid. 

Americans,  their  drefs  128 

ambitious  to  be  fine  though  naked  129 

how  the  fexes  are  diftinguifhed  by  drefs  130 

Ancient  Chinefe,  their  idea  of  women  49 

Ancients  not  acquainted  with  the  diamond  99 

magnificently  drefTed  on  public  occaiions     103 


ii  INDEX. 

Ancients  at  other  times  clothed  in  ikins  104 

Ancient  Greeks,  the  dref  >  of  their  women  1 05 

Germans  were  only  allowed  one  wife      217 

AJiaiics  place  their  grandeur  in  a  numerous  feraglio 

20 

take  titles  fometimes  from  the  number  of  their 

wives  ibid. 

AJfyrians,  their  method  of  difpofmg  of  their  young 

women  in  marriage  200 

had  a  court,  whofe  only  bufmefs  was  to  take 

cognizance  of  the  laws  of  marriage  202 

Auricular  confeffionj  one  of  the  modes  of  fecuring 

female  chaftity  30 

B. 

Barbarity  of  manners,  how  it  affects  female  delicacy  5 
Bards  attended  on  the  great  in  Germany  59 

Barons  could  not  claim  a  heriot,  nor  the  church  a 
mortuary  for  women  33 1 

Bqftard  children,  the  power  of  women  in  fathering 
Batchelors,    when  old,   are  annually  beaten  by  the 
women  of  Greece  243 

them  in  England  323 

how  this  power  is  reftrifted  in  Scotland  ibid. 
Beneditliom  pronounced  over  a  new-married  couple 
by  the  Jews  note — 198 

Betrothing,  what  it  means  in  the  facred  writings  19^ 
its  meaning  according  to  the  Talmud       196 
Bigamy  practifed  in  the  fixth  cent,  by  the  clergy  2 1 9 
Brama,  his  laws  allow  only  people  of  the  lame  call 
to  marry  251 

Bra?nins  attend  at  the  burning  of  widows,  and  ex- 
hort them  to  fuffer  with  fortitude  307 
Breed,  the  improvement  of  that  of  the  human  ipe- 
cies  neglected                                                      268 
Bride,  in  fome  countries  hides  herfclf,  in  others  muft 
be  feemingly  forced  from  her  relations            z6y 


INDEX.  iii 

jS/vc/c  examined  by  a  jury  of  matrons,  to  fee  if  {lie  has 

any  defect,   in  Mufcovy  268 

and  bridegroom  crowned  with  wormwood,  in 

Mufcovy  267 

Bridegroom,  in  Old  Mexico,  feemingiy  forced  into 

wedlock  267 

C. 
Candaules,  king  of  Lidia,  his  fooliih  behaviour    10 
Canons  of  the  church  forbidding  the  clergy  to  marry, 

how  difregarded  283 

Capt'we  women,  the  Jews  allowed  to  marry  them 

Gecrops,  the  fir/I  inftitutor  of  marriage  among  the 

Greeks  102 

his  ceremonies  and  laws  refpe&ing  marriage, 

what  205 

Charonides,  his  opinion  of  fecond  marriages        204 

Cbrjliiy,  and  the  various  methods  of  preferring  i:, 

conildered  1  5 

Cleopatra,  her  extravagance 

Clergy,   forbidden   to  marry,  in  the  firft  council  . 

Nice  274 

prohibited  from  marrying  by  a  variety  of  iub- 

fequent  decrees  275 

ordered  by  Pope   Honorius  to  be  degrad 

they  married  ibid 

of  the  diocefe  of  York  refirfe  to  put  away  their 

wives  277 

never  had  any  proper  arguments  to  oiler  in 

defence  of  celibacy 

conjectures  on  the  caufcs  of  their  celibacy  276 

inflituted  auricular  confeflion  to  get  into  the 

fecrets  of  all  the  women  2  8  1 

why  they  inflituted  nunneries  283 

Cloaths,  their  origin  8  5 

were  not  invented  merely  to  defend  L-j:v.  the 

cold  .35 

VOL, IL  Y  v 


h  INDEX. 

Cioaths,  why  the  author  is  of  this  opinion  Sj 

were  fuppofed  by  fome  to  have  been  invent- 
ed to  cover  {hame  88 
their  fimplicity  in  the  primitive  ages  90 
were  fewed  together  with  the  finews  of  ani- 
mals fplit  into  fibres  91 
were  originally  made  loofe,   and  not   to  fit 
the  body,  as  at  prefent                                     ibid 
made  of  cotton  and  flax  in  Egypt  and  Pa- 
leftine  92 
had  originally  no  contrivance  to  keep  them 
firm  to  the  body                                                    93 
Commerce  between  the  fexes,  fome  regulations  con- 
cerning it,  their  neceility                                    186 
was  early  regulated  in  mod  countries       192 
Compacls  whether  civil  or  religious,  equally  binding 

262 
Concubines  at  one  time  allowed  to  the  clergy,  but  not 
wives  274 

what  they  were  among  the  Romans  and  in 
the  middle  ages  279 

Confinement  of  women,  its  origin  1 S 

fuppofed  to  have  arifen  from  the  rape  of 
Jacob's  daughter  ibid 

and  from  that  of  Io  and  Proferpine  among 
the  Greeks  19 

idea  of  the  famous  Montefquieu  concerning 
it  22 

iliiberality  of  the  idea  of  Montefquieu  con- 
cerning it  ibid 
Conjeclures  on  fighting  to  obtain  the  favour  of  the 
ladies                                                                    180 
Confangidnity,  how  far  it  affe&s  die  rights  of  marry- 
ing, not  fettled  by  any  fixed  rule  among  mankind 

248 

Courage  is  generally  acquired,  like  any  other  acquifi- 

tion  77 


INDEX.  v 

Courage,  instances  of  it  in  women  78 

ancient  and  modern,  their  kinds  79 

Courtjhip,  anciently  carried  on  by  proxy  147 

managed  by  prefents  to  the  lady  and  her 
friends  ibid 

of  Jacob  to  his  bride  1 48 

of  Sechem  to  the  fons  of  Jacob  for  their 
•fjfter  ibid 

of  Sampfon  to  his  parents  to  procure  him 
Delilah  1 5 1 

by  exhibiting  feats  of  dexterity  and  /kill  in 
arms  153 

Court/hip,  how  carried  on  by  the  Greeks  154 

unknown  to  the  Romans,  who  bargained 
for  a  bride  with  her  relations  157 

of  the  ancient  northerns  confided  in  fhewing 
their  {kill  in  arts  and  in  arms  159 

a  fingular  method  of  it  by  the  Saccse      163 
in  the  ifiand  of  Amboyna  168 

other  methods  of  it  in  different  parts  of  the 
world  ,  ibid 

is  in  general  managed  by  tempting  the  fex 
with  every  thing  pleafmg  and  agreeable        -  169 
how  carried  on  in  Lapland  170 

forwarded  bed  there  by  brandy  ibid 

Cre?na,  Cardinal,  his  fpeech  again!!   the  commerce 
with  the  other  fex  278 

is  caught  the  fame   evening  in  the  arms  of  a 
proftitute  ibid 

Crete,  the  magifbates  had  the  fole  power  there  of 
providing  wives  for  their  young  men  213 

Cruelties  exercifed  on  fuppofed  witches  64 

were  a  difgrace  to  the  times  and  the  magil- 
trates  65 

Gujloms  of  various  countries  in  difpofmg  of  women  in 
marriage  2  \  q 


vi  INDEX. 

D. 

Delicacy  mod  confpicuous  in  certain  Hates  of  fociety 

5 
altogether  unknown  in  favage  countries      6 

and  laughed  out  of  exigence  in  too  poliflied 

ones  7 

fiourifhes  mod  among  people  not  too   rude 

nor  too  much  cultivated  ibid 

is  more  natural  to  females  than  to  males       8 

has  no  exigence  in  Otaheite  ibid 

is   remarkable  in  the  women  of  China   and 

Japan  ibid 

Diamonds,  where  found  ioo 

firfr.  polifhtd  with  their  own  dud  by  Lewis 

de  Berguen  (bid 

the  methods  taken   by  the  Spaniards  to 

fecure  the  mines  whence  they  are  dug  ioi 

are  the  badge  of  quality  and  opulence  ibid 

Difference  of  powers  and  faculties  of  the  rexes  in  civil 

life,  conjectures  on  it  44 

Different  fentiments  concerning  drefs  116 

Difad vantages  of  female  life  338 

Divifwn  of  the  human  genus  ^6 

Divorce   among   the  ancient  Jews  eafily  obtained 

2  37 
the  manner  in  which  it  Mas  given,  according 

to  the  rabbies  ibid 

why  the  power  of  it  was  lodged  in  the  hands 

of  the  hufband  238 

was  decreed   by  the  council  of  Trent  to  be 

unlawful  in  any  cafe  whatever  239 

was  always  granted  by  the  popes   to  thofq 

who  could  pay  well  for  it  ibid 

Divorce,  indances  of  the  power  of  it  being  lodged  in 

the  hands  of  the  wife  240 

Dozcer,    flrd  introduced  by  the  king  of  Denmark 

333 


INDEX.  vii 

Dower  was  not  to  be  7  aid  to  v.'i^ows,  unlefs  they 

lived  chafte  and  unmarried  333 

the  ancient  method  of  conveying  a  right  to 

cannot  be  feized  by  the  creditors  of  a  hufband 

ibid 
Drefs  of  women  in  the  primitive  ages  not  known 

98 

Dying  unlamented,  reckoned  in  many  places  a  great 

evil  299 

E. 

Eq/ieni  women,  their  drefs  121 

are  at  much  pains  to  decorate  themfelves, 

though  they  cannot  be  feen  by  the  men  122 

Edinburgh,  how  the  ladies  are   dubbed  toads  there 

176 
Edward  the  Confeffbr,  why  fainted  275 

ihe  Vlth  firfb  declared  it  lawful  for  the  Eng- 
jifli  clergy  to  marry  280 

Egyptians,  did  not  allow  of  polygamy  218 

fometimes  fuffered  it  to  take  place  ibid 

England,    the  contradictory  fail  ions  that  have  pre- 
vailed among  the  worsen  -here  140 
the  ladies  there  laced  tight  in  the  beginning 
of  this  century                                                        ibid 
ladies  there  difcarded  ftays  altogether  towards 
the  middle  ol  this  century                                    ibid 
and  toward  the  end  of  it  laced  tighter  than 
ev.-'-                                                                         ibid 
England,  their  ?refent  enormous  head-drefs         141 
Eunuchs,  their  origin  15 
Europe,  remarks  on  the  drefs  ufed  in  it                 no 
its  extenfive  trade  brings  materials  for  drefs 
from  every  part  of  the  world                             1 12 
European  princes  have  frequently  been   obliged  to 
enact  fumptuary  laws                                         1 1  i 


viii  INDEX. 

European  women,  their  method  of  rendering  them- 

felves  agreeable  84 

Europeans,  about  what  time  new  materials  for  drefs 

were  introduced  among  them  128 

from  whence  they  imported  thefe  materials 

ibid 
F. 

female  inferiority  deduced. from  falfe  principles      46 
arifes,  in  civil  life,  from  education  and  their 
mode  of  living  ibid 

Feudal  tenants  could  not  give  their  daughters  in  mar- 
riage without  confent  of  their  lords  340 
Folly  of  declaiming   againll  modern  ornament  and 
drefs  98 
of  the  ancients  in  drefs  more  confpicuous  than 
that  of  the  moderns  92 
French^  their  mode  of  dreffing                              138 
their  method  of  courtfhip                           178 
their  courtfhip  carried  on  by  the  relations  of 
the  parties                                                            179 
were  formerly  much  addicled  to  fighting  to 
gain  the  ladies  they  adored                                180 
G. 
General idea  of  men  by  fome  philofophers  3  5 
idea  of  love                                                 144 
law,  that  males  have  the  right   of  afking, 
and  females  of  refuting                                       145 
Grand  Signior,  privileges  of  his  married  fillers     228 
Greeks  burnt  the  axle  of  the  chariot  that  carried  a 
bride  to  the  houfe  of  her  hufband                   206 
their  fumptuous  marriage  feafts                207 
obliged  a  bride    and  bridegroom   to   eat  a 
quince  together                                                   ibid 
fung  Epithalamia  in  the  evening  and  morn- 
ing to  a  new  married  couple                             ibid 


INDEX.  ix 

Greeks  of  Sparta,  differed  from  all  the  others  in 
their  ceremonies  and  cuiloms  of  marriage        208 

Greenland  women,  their  averfion  to  marriage  171 
whence  this  averfion  arifes  172 

Grymer,  the  ftory  of  his  courtmip  162 

Gorgophona^  the  firft  Grecian  widow  who,  after  the 
laws  of  Cecrops,  took  a  fecond  hufband  294 

H. 

Hair  powder,  when  the  white  kind  was  firft  ufed  1  oS 
Harams,  fuppofed  by  fome,  not  to  be  places  of  con- 
finement, but  of  retreat  from  the  world  2 1 
are  places  of  confinement                           ibid 
how  fituated  25 
Heida,  a  famous  enchantrefs,  how  (lie  lived           61 
Henry  the  VIII th.  granted  the  clergy  difpenfations 
to  keep  concubines                                            279 
Hindoo  women,  their  drefs                                     123 
arrayed  in  filks  richly  ornamented              124 
their  hair  finely  decorated  with  diamonds,  and 
drelfed  into  the  forms  of  various  flowers           ibid 
their  paint  for  beautifying  the  fkin             125 
their  perfumes                                               126 
their  cafes  for  their  bread                            ibid 
Hujbands,  their  unlawful  power  over  wives  in  feve- 
ral  countries                                                        220 
the  powers  granted  them  by  law  over  their 
wives                       .                                             ibid 
what  thefe  powers  were  among  the  Jews, 
Romans,  in  Brafil,  Hindoftan,  and  Europe     223 
may   recover   damages  of  a    perfon    who 
beats  their  wives                                                326 
may  defend  their  wives  as  in  cafes  of  felf- 
defence                                                                327 
are  only  guilty  of  manflaughfer,  if  they  kill 
a  perfon  caught  with  their  wives  in  adultery    328 


x  INDEX. 

Hujbands  arc  not  to  have  their  wives  taken  from  them 
by  fraud  or  force  128 

may  recover  damages  of  thofe  who  entice 
their  wives  to  feparate  from  them  128 

their  power  over  the  eftates  of  their  wives, 
how  limited  340 

may  confine  their  wives,  if  infane         342 

the  power  given  them  by  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land over  the  goods  and  chattels  of  their  wives 

340 

J- 


Jack  ofLeyden,  famous  for  the  number  of  his  wives 

220 
Idea  of  drefs  and  fafhion,    the  effects   of  cuflom 

124 

Jewels  were  polifhed,  fet,    and  engraved,    in  the 

time  of  Mofes  99 

Illiberal  reflexions   on  the  fair  fex  by  ancient   and 

modern  writers  50 

Inclination    to  each  other,  the  fource  of  whatever 

is  pleafing  and  ufeful  84 

Indelicacy ',  inftances  of  it  in  fome  countries  13 

Inferiority  of  women  an  idea  too  much  entertained 

by  the  men  35 

does  not  appear  in  the    females    of  the 

brute  animals  36 

has  no  foundation,  except  with  regard  to 

bodily  ftrength  ibid 

Inftances  of  men  burning  themfelves  to  death       366 

Jointure  of  a  widow  bars  her  right  to  dower       336 

is  not  loft  to  the  wife  by  high  treafon  in 

her  hufband  337 


INDEX.  xi 

Jointure  muft  be  made  to  a  wife  for  the  term  of  her 
own  life  336 

Jovinian  was  banilhed  for  maintaining  that  a  mar- 
ried man  might  be  faved  from  eternal  damnation 

276 

Italians,  their  whimfical  drefs  in  the  time  of  Petrarch 

protract  the  time  of  courtfliip,  as  being  the 

moft  happy  part  of  life  178 

lfle  of  Ely,  why  fo  called  276 

"Jujiices  of  the  peace,  their  power  over  women  who 

have  baftard  children  324 

K. 

Kindred,   near,    political  reafons  why  they   mould 

not  intermarry  249 

natural  reafons  why  they  do  not  marry     250 

the  laws  concerning  their  marriages  in  moft 

places  the  fame  as  thofe  of  Mofes  ibid 

were  not  allowed  to  marry  by  Pope  Honorius 

till  after  the  7th  generation  251 

L. 

Law,  that  of  Europe  takes  care  both  of  the  perfons 
and  property  of  women  316 

that  of  Afia  leaves  them  at  the  mercy  of  their 
hufbands  ibid 

Left-handed  wives  in  Pruffia,  how  married  269 

what  reftrictions  they  are  under         270 
Legitimation  of  children,  how  accomplifhed  in  Scot- 
land 253 
how  in  Holland                                     254 
Love,     among  the  ancients,    deflitute  of  fentiment 

152 

VOL.   II.  Z  Z 


INDEX. 


M. 


Magift  rates,  among  the  Franks,   folemnized  marri- 
ages in  their  courts  of  juiiice  257 
alfohad  the  power  of  marrying  in  the  time 
of  Cromwell  260 
Marriage,  the  word  falfely  applied  by  many  writers 

263 

was  firff.  a  fimple  approbation  of  a  woman, 

or  living  with  her  by  accident  189 

ceremony  afterward  became  more  complex 

as  fociety  advanced  190 

advantages  ariies  from  it  in  the  early  ages 

ceremonies  firfl  particularly  delcribed  by 
the  Greeks  203 

ceremonies  of  the  Greeks  after  they  became 
a  polimed  people  204 

a  civil  compact  only  2 1  o 

portions,  their  origin  216 

the  ceremonies  ufed  in  celebrating  it  among 

the  Romans  252 

Marriage,  its  yoke  in  ancient  times  eafy  to  the  men 

but  lefs  fo  to  the  women  258 

rites,  at  what  time  the  clergy  afnuned  the 
foie  right  of  celebrating  them  259 

vows  not  the  lefs  valid  by  confidering  it  as 
a  civil  compact  261 

ceremonies,  which  ate  expreiTive  of  the 
love  and  regard  of  the  men  266 

ceremonies  which   ferve  only  to  make  the 

bargain  public  20;' 

Married  women,  their  privilege',  in  England       325 

cannot  be  imprifoned  for  debt  ibid 

can    oblige  their  hufbands  to  pay  all   the 

debts  they  contr act  before  and  after  marrriage  ibid 


INDEX,  xili 

Married  women  may  oblige  their  hufbands  to  give 

fecurity  for  their  good  behaviour  327 

may  bring  an  acTion  to  oblige  hufbands  to 

reftore  the  rights  of  marriage  329 

Married  women  may  carry  on  any  trade  they  have 
been  accuftomed  to,  and  their  bargains  bind  the 

hufband  .  i?.  , 

are  all  confidered  as  minors  \tota 

Mary  queen  of  Scots,  how  fhe  puniftied  adultery 

Matrimony  an  early '  mj  station^  187 

encouraged  and  enforced  by  the  Greens 

243 

and  by  the  Jews  and  Perfians  244 

Mill  more  fo  by  the  Romans  *«tf 

Matrimonial  regulations  concerning   the  ages  pi   a 

bride  and  bridegroom  _  24^ 

difcord,  conjeftures  on  its  caufes  2^5 

arifes  from  the  wrong  education  of  the  wo- 

ibia 
men  j       r 

alfo  from  the  particular  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  this  country         .  r2 
Men  have  taken  from  women  the  power  of  refilling 
fuch  hufbands  as  their  relations  provide  for  them 

M5 
their  right  of  courting  the  gift  of  nature  1 46 
their  crreater  liberties  in  the  married  itate  tlian 

6  2J  I 

women                                                    ,  ' 

M/Vfc/fe  ages,  iketches  of  the  drefs  med  then  1 1 5 

hair  then  the  principal  ornament  1  JO 

a  great  punimment  to  cut  it  oft  una 

Milefian  women,  their  delicacy  x* 

Mirrors  ufed  in  an  early  period  9° 

were  made  of  brafs  '/'''. *\ 

the  firft  glafs  ones  made  of  Tynan  fond  ibid 

afford  a  proof,  that  the  early  ages  were  not  Jo 
rude  as  we  imagine 


INDEX. 


Modern  Greek  women  their  drefs  105 

Mogul  women,  how  concealed  when  they  travel  26 


N. 


Natches,  the  privileges  they  allow  to  fuch  wives  as 

are  filters  of  their  great  chief  228 

and  to  wives  who  are  noble  ibid 

Northern  nations,  their  ancient  drefs  114 

women,  how  they  drelfed  their  hair     ibid 

flight  /ketches  of  the  other  parts  of  their 

drefs  115 

warriors,  placed  their  greateft  happinefs 

in  love  163 

women,  the  manner  in  which  they  refufed 

the  addrefles  of  the  men  ibid 

Nofe  and  ear  jewels,  where  u fed  124 

Nunneries,  the  firfl  founded  by  St.  Synclytica     273 

O. 

Objiacles   only   encreafe  our    ardour    to    overcome 

them  24 

Oliver  Cromwell,  drefs  and  ornament  defpifed  in  his 

time  136 

fentiments  in  his  time  concerning  the  fair 

fex  ibid 

is  no  fooner  dead  than  thefe  fentiments  take 

a  different  dire£tion  137 

Omens,  good  and  bad,  much  taken  notice  of  by  the 

Greeks  at  marriages  205 

Operation  of  the  laws  of  England  in  diverting  women 

of  property  340 

Opinions  concerning  the  intercourfe  of  women  with 

invifible  beings  5 1 

that  are  difadvantageous  to  the  fex  83 

Origin  of  celibacy,  whence  271 


INDEX.  xv 

Ormus,  defcription  of  its  magnificence  127 

Ornament  and  finery,  fuppofed  to  be  paflions  not 

natural  to  the  fair  iex  89 

this  fuppofition  ill  founded  ibid 

of  the  early  ages  confided  in  jewels,  rings, 

perfumes,  and  garments  of  divers  colours  92 

Otabeite,  fingular  manner  of  dreffing  the  head    132 

Otho,  his  decree,  that  the  wives  and  children  of  the 

clergy  mould  receive  no  benefit  from  their  eftates 

279 

P. 

Parents,  in  the  ifle  of  Timor,  fell  their  children  to 
purchafe  wives  2 1 2 

Parliament  of  Britain  has  obftru&ed  the  road  to 
marriage,  which  almoft  every  other  legiilature  f>as 
made  plain  and  eafy  247 

Per/ians,  their  idea  of  the  neceflity  of  marriage  242 
caufed  fuch  as  died  unmarried  to  be  married 
after  death  ibid 

Peerejfes  of  England,  their  privileges  318 

Philtres,  the  women  of  ThefTaly  famous  for  prepar- 
ing them  154 
their  dangerous  nature                              ibid 
inflances  of  their  fatality  153 
Polygamy ,  its  early  introduction                            2 1 6 
and  concubinage,  their  origin  ibid 
and  concubinage,  their  increafe               217 
how  the  jews  were  reftricled  in  thefe  mat- 
ters                                                                       ibid 
pra&ifed  in  the  fixth  century                    219 
arguments  for  and  againfl  it                     ibid 
PoJJeJJion  by  devils,  conje&ures  on  its  origin  68 
an  obfolete  opinion,  now  only  held  by  the 
church  of  Rome                                                   6g 


xvi  INDEX. 

Pregnant  women,  how  defended  by  the  law  of  Eng- 
land 330 
Price  of  a  wife  in  Mingrelia                                 212 
Priejis  of  the  Jews,  whom  they  might  marry       25 1 
of  Egypt  not  allowed  to  marry  ibid 
of  the  Chriftians,  borrowed   the  cuftom   of 
celebrating  the  rites  of  marriage    from  thofe   of 
ancient  Rome                                                   258 
are  fuppofed  to  have  a  divine  right  to  celebrate 
the  rites  of  marriage,  which  none  elfe  can  enjoy 

259 

the  powers  they  have  ufurped         note — 260 

declared  infamous  if  they  did  not  put  away 

their  wives  278 

their  legitimate  children  made  llaves  in  France 

ibid 
Privileges  of  women  more   firmly  fettled  in  Britain 
than  in  any  other  country  315 

of  the  Princefs  of  Wales,  the  daughters  and 
fitters  of  kings  of  England  317 

of  the  women  of  England  in  general        3 1 9 
of  women  by  marriage  contract  331 

Pruffia,  parents    there  may  have  the  marriage  of 
their  children  made  null  when  without  their  con- 
fen  t  270 
Pniffian  laws  make  a  marriage  void,  when  a  widow 
impofes  herfelf  inftead  of  a  maid                      312 
widows  in  fome  cafes,  allowed  eleven  months 
after  the  death  of  a  hufband  to  bring  forth  a  legi- 
timate child  314 
Punijhrnent  of  deflowering  a  betrothed  virgin      232 
Pur  chafing  of  wives,  its  confequeuces                  220 

Queen  of  England,  her  particular  privileges         317 

Mary  of  England,    declared  the  marriages  of 

.the  clergy  unlawful  280 


INDEX.  xvii 

£>ueen  of  Lydia,  her  revenge  for  being  affronted  by 
her  fooliih  hufband  1 1 


R. 


Rabbies 0  their  account  of  the  marriage  ceremonies  of 
the  ancient  Jews  197 

of  the  ceremonies  they  afcribe  to  Mofes  in 
marriage  198 

and  of  thofe  which  came  into  ufe  in  later 
periods  199 

Rank  of  birth-right  cannot  be  loft  by  a  woman   331 
Rape,  the  punifhment  for  it  in  ancient  Britain     320 
a  woman  upon  whom  it  is  committed  allowed 
to  be  a  witnefs  in  her  own  caufe  321 

a  man  may  be  tried  again  for  it  after  having 
been  pardoned  322 

Reafons  why  wives  in  Europe  are  not  confined     23 
why  the  Afiatics  feldom  keep  company  with 
their  women  24 

why  women   have  contributed  little  to  ad- 
vancing the  fciences  42 
why  the  opinions  concerning  witches  were  i'o 
much  altered  62 
why  wives  brought  portions  along  with  them 

2i3 
Religion,  morality,  honour,  all  contribute  to  fecure 

chadity  among  polimed  people  30 

Religon  of  Alia  and  Europe,  the  difference  between 

them  in  regard  to  continence  32 

called  in  to  make  the  ceremony  of  marriage 
more  folemn  258 

and  honour,  their  power  over  human  a&ions 

3°5 
Remarkable  women  of  feveral  nations  43 

Revival  of  drefs  and  ornament,  their  caufes         133 


xviii  INDEX. 

Roman  women,  their  drefs  106 

how  they  chaftifed  their  Haves  if  they  did  not 

drefs  them  properly  ibid 

the  variety  of  flaves  they  employed  at  the 

toilette  107 

allotted  to  each  her  proper  office  ibid 

did  not  admit  men  to  the  toilette  108 

the  ornaments  they  wore  in  their  hair  and  at 

their  ears  ibid 

their  high  head-dreffes  109 

dyed  their  hair  yellow,  and  powdered  it  with 

gold  dud  ibid. 

their  cofmetics,   paint,  and  coating   for  the 

face  1 09 

their  falfe  teeth  made^of  box  1 1  o 

the  materials  of  their  drefs  1 1 1 

were  long  unacquainted  with  the  ufe  of  linen 

and  filk  ibid 

women,  their  mod  fafhionable  colours        113 
their  extravagance  in  ornamenting  their  fhoes 

ibid 
knights,  thefpeech  of  Casfar  to  them  on  their 

having  neglected  to  marry  246 

fined  by  him  for  this  neglect  247 

fome  of  them  married  children    to  fulfil  the 

letter,  and  avoid  the  fpirit  of  the  law,  which 

obliged  them  to  marry  ibid 

priefls,  the  firfr.  of  the  facred  order  who  fo- 

lemnized  marriage  rites  253 

Romans  enforced  matrimony  on  the  men  244 

fined   old  batchelors,  and  obliged  the  men 

to  fwear  that  they  would  marry  as  foon  as  co  nve- 

nient  245 

their  different  kinds  of  marriage  247 


INDEX. 


S. 


Sabceans  had  their  wives  in  common  2 1 7 

Savages,  the  reafons  why  they  fuppofe  women  to  be 

inferior  to  men  37 

Scotland,  the  church  there  makes  women  do  penance 

for  baftard  children  323 

Servants,  their  puniihment  by  the  law  of  England  for 

abufmg  their  miflrefs  330 

Shame,  annexed  to  incontinence,  one  of  the  methods 

of  fecuring  chaflity  130 

the  confequences  of  this  ihame  being  taken 

off  in  Denmark  -  31 

Silk,  whence  originally  brought  and  when  1 1 1 

Singular  method  of  fecuring  chaflity  in  Africa       27 

of  preferving  the  fidelity  of  wives  among  the 

Jews  28 

in  Poland  29 

inftance  of  human  folly  133 

Spaniards,  their  mannner  of  courtfhip  172 

court  by  ferenading  their  miflrefs  before 

her  window  173 

are  the  moll  obfequious  fentimental  lovers 

in  the  world  174 

Spaniards   whip  themfelves   to  gain  the  affection  of 

the  ladies  175 

Species,  human,  the  propagation  of  it  reckoned  cri- 
minal •  271 
Stains  in  the  fkin,  an  ornament  of  favages  1 3 1 
St.  Jerom,  his  ridiculous  opinion  of  matrimony  27  s 
St.  Maurice,  the  knights  of  that  order  not  allowed 

to  marry  widows  3 1 2 

Sum  of  all  that  is  alledged  for  and  againfl  each  fex 

tends  to  prove  that  they  are  nearly  ecfual  43 

vol.  ir.  1  A 


INDEX. 


Superior  flrength  of  body  evident  in  the  males  of 

brute  animals  36 

but  have  no  other  fuperiority  37 


Tartars,  their  ideas  of  their  women  49 

The  two  fexes  in  favage  life  compared  39 

female  favage  hardly  inferior  to  the  male     ibid 
(hare  each  lex  has  had  in  progreffive  improve- 
ment 40 
arts  attributed   to  female  invention              ibid 
that  languifh  under  their  direction  42 
reafons  why  they  do  fo                                     ibid 
Therapeutes,  by  whom  founded                            273 
governed  by  St.  Anthony                  ibid 
Thorbiorga,  a  Danim  enchantrefs,  ftory  of  her    59  , 
Turin,  a  girl  there  faid  to  be  poffefled  by  a  devil 

?l 

fhe  is  managed  by  two  jefuits  and  a  phyfician 

ibid 

they  pretend  to  exorcife  the  devil  ibid 

Dr.  JR.  maintains  there  is  no  devil  in  the  cafe  of 

the  girl  there  72 

and  puts  fome  queftions  in  a  language  that  the 

devil  does  not  underftand  ibid 

the  jefuits  threaten  the  do&or  73 

he  produces  an  order  from  court  to  examine  the 

girl  ibid 

Turkijh  drefs,  foine  fketches  of  it  128 

■  Turks,  their  cruel  method  of  gaining  the  affection  of 

the  ladies  176 

V. 

Various  methods  of  fecuring  chadity  in  Spain        26 
Veils  anciently  ufed  by  women  97 


INDEX.  xxi 

Venitians,  their  manner  of  drefhng  138 

Virginity,    to  remain  in  it  reckoned  a   great  misfor- 
tune by  the  Jews  241 
by  the  ancient  Perfians                             242 
by  the  Greeks  ibid 
and  by  the  women  of  the  Levant              ibid 

W. 

Wales,  the  king  there  was  formerly  fatisfied  with  fme- 
ing  the  man  who  had  debauched  his  wife         234 
Widowhood,  why  fo  difagreeable  to  women  289 

was  the  mod  defpicable  of  all  conditions  in 
the  primitive  ages  294 

is  the  mod  eligible  female  condition  in  Eu- 
rope,  when  the  widow  is  in  good  circumftances 

31/ 
Widows  in  the  early  ages  had  none  to  redrefs  their 

wrongs  292 

iuftered  in  Greenland  to  die  of  hunger     293 
not  allowed  to  marry  again  in  fome  countries 
and  why  ibid 

what   claries  of   men   were  not  allowed    to 
marry  them  294 

their  condition  begins  to  amend  295 

not  allowed  to  be  feized  nor  fold  by  the  cre- 
ditors of  their  hufbands  296 
were  protected  by  the  chridian  clergy     ibid 
their  methods  of  mourning  for  their  deceafed 
hufbands  ibid 
Widows  were  prefcribed,  in  many  centuries,  a  cer- 
tain  time,  within  which  they  Ihould  not  marry 

296 

were   condemned  by  cudom  to  wear  their 

weeds  for  life  in  Spain  and  Scotland  297 

difmaj  life  which  they  were   condemned   to 

while  mourning  in  Spain  ibid 


xxri  INDEX. 

Widows }  the  time  allotted  to  their  mourning  in  Ame- 
rica 298 

the  puniihment  to  which  they  are  liable,  if 
they  do  not  mourn  according  ro  the  cuftom  of  their 
country  ibid 

reafons  of  fubjecling  them  to  this  long  and 
fevere  mourning  299 

are  obliged  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
in  the  Ifthmus  of  Darien,  to  cut  off  a  joint  from  a 
finger  for  every  hufband  they  bury  300 

are  burnt  to  death  on  the  funeral  pile  of  their 
Lufbands  in  Hindoffan  301 

whether  their  burning  is  voluntary  confider- 
ed  304 

fomctimes  revolt  againft  the  dreadful  death 
affigned  them  306 

the  fortitude  and  refolution  fhewn  by  fome 
of  them  in  thofe  dreadful  moments  308 

fometimes  fet  fire  themfelves  to  the  pile  that 

is  to  devour  them  309 

-  in  China,  are  fold  by  the  relations  of  a  de- 

ceafed  hufband  310 

of  China,  may  deliver  themfelves  from  being 
fold  by  turning  Bonzeffes  311 

are  put  in  the  houfe  of  correction  in  Prvifia, 
if  they  marry  while  with  child  to  a  deceafed  huf- 
band 3 1 2 

their  privileges  by  the  law  of  England   332 

their  children  all  buried  along  with  them  in 
the  ifthmus  of  Darien  301 

when  left  with  child,  particular  hardships  to 
which  they  are  liable  in  England  343 

of  the  Jews,  might  afk  the  brothers  of  de- 
ceafed hufbands  in  marriage  149 

have  the  fame  right  among  the  Iroquois  and 
Hnrons  1 50 


INDEX.  xxiii 

Witchcraft,  the  idea  of  it  early  propagated  among 

mankind  5 1 

and  mod  ridiculoufly  believed  by  the  fu- 

perftitious  and  ignorant  52 

conje&ures  on  its  origin  $$ 

why  women  were  thought  more  addicted 

to  it  than  men  54 

all  antiquity  full  of  the  ideas  of  it  5  5 

made  ,a   pretence   for  deftroying  fuch  as 

were  obnoxious  to   kings  and  their  minillers     64 

nothing  that  was  connected  with  it  too  ab- 

furd  to  gain  credit  ibid 

caufes  of  its  decline  62 

tortures  that  were  made  ufe  of  to  extort 

confeffion  67 

executions  obliged  to  be  made  every  day, 

to  make  room  in  the  prifons  for  the  accufed      68 

even  the  magiffrates  fufpecled  ibid 

Witches  revered  by  the  ancient  Germans  51 

generally  in  all  nations  fuppofed  to  be  moftly 

old  women  ibid 

of  antiquity,  luppofed  to  be  endowed  with 

mod  extraordinary  powers  56 

confulted  at   Calcutta  about  the  defliny  of 

children  58 

Wives,  why  purchafed  192 

places  in  which  they  are  purchafed  2 1 1 

were  allowed  a  plurality  of  hufbands  by  the 

Medes,  on  the  coaft   of   Malabar,   at    Calcutta, 

&c.  220 

their  privileges  among  the  Jews  226 

among  the  Egyptians  and  others       -  227 

in  the   Marian   iflands,   exercife   aa   unlimited 

authority  over  their  huibands  ibid 

their  privileges' among  the  ancient  Germans  229 

in  Turkey  ibid 

in  Hindoftan  ibid 


Xx»  INDEX. 

Wives  method  of  exculpating  themfelves  when  accufed 
of  adultery  237 

Wives  and  concubines,  inftances  of  their  being  Wran- 
gled to  ferve  their  hufbands  in  the  other  world  300 
cannot  bring  an  action  at  law  without  content 
of  their  hufbands  341 

Women  faid  to  be  incapable  of  liftening  toreafon  75 

charged  with  inconstancy  of  temper  76 

faid  by  fome  not  to  have  any  fouls  47 

origin  of  that  opinion  probably  was  in  Afia 

ibid 

why   they  cannot  have   fouls,  according  to 
the  opinion  of  the  Scots  clergyman  48 

among  the  ancient   northerns   eonfidered  as 
divinely  infpired  58 

endowed  with  courage  when  in  circumdan- 
ces  where  it  is  necefiary  JJ 

are  in  fome  countries  more  valued  than  men 

el 

were  deified,    and  had   temples  erected  for 
their  worlhip  ibid 

confciou°   that   their  ftrqpgth   lies   in    their 
beauty  89 

in  the   ifthmus  of   Darien  and  the  Ukrain, 
court  the  men  50 

their  power  to  compel  the  performance  of  a 
promife  of  marriage  324 

are  obliged  to  return  the  prefents  made  by 
lovers,  or  to  marry  them  325 

are  hardly  allowed  any  power  or  management 
of  affairs  338 

the  punifnment  afflicted  on  them  346 

could  not  fuccced  to  feudal  eftates  340 

were  in  procefs  of  time   allowed  to  fucceed 
to  them  in  default  of  male  heirs  ibid 

their  wills  and  teftamehts  made  .void  by  mar- 
riage 34 1 


INDEX.  xx 

Women  keeping  a  houfe  of  ill  fame,  how  punifhable 

343 
their  inferiority  to  the  other  fex  lefs  than  is 

commonly  believed  >>j 

Widjian,  his  ridiculous  enmity  to  long  hair  1 17 

Y. 

Toung  men,   in  ancient  Ifrael,  appear  not  to  have 
had  the  power  of  courting  a  bride  for  themfelve?. 

I5I 


SUBSCRIBERS 


TO    THE 


HISTORY  of  WOMEN, 


PHILADELPHIA. 


A. 


BBOT  Ssf  Barnes 
Alexander  Adams 
Catharine  Auner 
Elizabeth  Anderfon 
George  Afhbey 
Hannah  Armftrong 
Henry  H.  Abel 
Henry  Adams 
Henry  Andrews 
Jacob  Anthony 
Jacob  Anthony,  jun. 
Jacob  Aflimead 
James  Anderfon 
John  Alexander 
John  Aitken 
Tohn  Allftine 


J.  B.  Ackley 
Jofeph  Allen 
Nathaniel  Afhby 
Nicholas  Anthony 
Rebecca  Alice 
Samuel  Allen 
Samuel  I.  Axford 
Sufan  Alberger 
St.  Laurence  Adams 
Thomas  Allen 
William  Abbott 
William  Anderfon 
William  Alexander 
William.  Allen 
William  Allibone,  jun. 
William  Annan,  m.  d. 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


B. 


A.  Baird,  Wa/hingtpn, 
Pennjylvania 

Abner  Briggs 
Andrew  Bell 
Andrew  Boyd 
Andrew  Butler 
Anthony  Tate  Boyd 
Benj.  Franklin  Bache 
Bela  Badger 
Daniel  Brewer 
Ebenezer  Bowman 
Eleanor  Brown 
Elizabeth  R.  Burden 
Francis  Brown 
Francis  G.  Brewfter 
George  Booth 
George  Blackwell 
George  Bringhurffc 
Henry  Baker,  jun. 
Henry  Barrington 
Herman  Bake 
Jacob  Bower,    Reading, 

Berks  Qeunty 
Jacob  Brown 
John'Bedford 
John  Bennett 
John  Bever,   George- 

Town,  Ohio 
John  Bicren 


John    Brandon,  Green/- 
burgh ,  Pen  nfylvania 

John  Brittengham 

John   Burk 

Johnfon  Beeiley 

Jofeph  Ball  jun. 

Jofeph   Britten 

Jofeph  Burden 

Jofeph  Burroughs 

Kennard  Blackifton 

Lewis   Baker 

Margaret  Bowles 

Margaret  Boylan 

Margaret  Brown 

Martin  Bernard 

Nathan  Beach,    Luzerne 

Peter  Bell 

Peter  Bob 

Samuel  Bullus 

Stephen  Bennett 

Thomas  Bartlemaa 

Thomas  Batfon 

William  Bonnell 

William  Buck 

William  D.  Brown 

William  L.  Blair 

William  P.  Beatty 

William  P.  Brady, 
Nor 7 hum  berland 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


c. 


Abraham  Cohen 
Adam  Corman 
Alexander  Campbell, 
Richmond,  Virginial 
Ann  Carey 
Ann  Chaloner 
Catharine  Coleman 
Charles  Campbell 
Daniel  Carfon 
Daniel  Cafey 
Daniel  Carteret 
George  R.  Chapman 
Hugh  Cochran,  12  copies 
Jacob  Carver 
Jacob  Creamer 
James  Collings 
James  Corkrin 
John  Cameron 
John  Campbell 
John  Cannon 
John  Chambers 
John  Clarke 
John  Ciaxton 


John  Cloyd,  Attorney  at 

law 
Jonathan  Carmant 
Jofeph  Cafe 
Levi  Croforove 
Lewis  Croufellat 
Mary  Cline 
Mary  Comfort 
Mary  Cowell 
Mathew  Carey, 

12  copies 
Nancy  Cornicle 
Nathaniel  Coborn 
Nicholas  Coleman 
Paul  Cutter 
Richard  Coutty 
Robert  Carr 
Samuel  Church 
Thomas  Cantairs 
Gen.  Thomas  Craig 
William  Carr 
"William  Clarke 
William  Clew 


D. 

Anna   Dougherty  Elizabeth  Doyle 

Benjamin  Davies,  6  copies  Francis  Daymon 
Benjamin  Dutton  Frederick  Dern 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


G.  Decombaz,  2  copies 
Ifaac  Davis 
James  Dilworth 
John  Dobelbower 
John  Duche 
Lewis  Dobelbower 
Lucinda  Doman 
Martin  Dubs 
Mafon  Dickey 


Charles  Eagan 
Daniel  Eftal 
David  Everhart 
Elizabeth  Emery 

Charles  Farmer 
Frederick  Foy 
Frederick  Frayley 
James  Faichney 
James  Farmer 
John  Felter 
John  Flanigan 
Jofeph  Feinour 
Jofeph  H.  Flemming 

Adam  Guyer 
Cafper  Guygcr 
D.  Graffct 


Mathew  Doyle 
Nicholas  Diehl 
Samuel  Dugee 
Sarah  Doyle 
Thomas  Dennis 
Thomas  Dougherty 
Vorothia  Dale 
William  Dewees,  m.  d. 
William  Dawfon 


E. 


George  Etris 
Jonathan  Edwards 
Samuel  Elliott 
Samuel  Ervin 


F. 


Maria  Flemmino- 
Rebecca  Fleefon 
Sarah  Fletcher 
Thomas  French 
Walter  Fortune 
William  Fadel 
William  Fling 
William  Brown  Foggo 
William  Fofler 


G. 


Daniel  Green 
Henry  Garrifon 
Jacob  Gilbert 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


James  Gamble 
John  German 
John  Grace 
Jofeph  Gladding 
Richard  Graham,  Dum- 
fries, Virginia 

A.  Hallowell 
Abraham  Hambright 
Abraham  Kilyard 
Allfree  Hart 
Afsheton  Humphreys 
Benjamin  Harrifon 
David  Hall 
Elizabeth  Hartung 
Henry  Hill 
Henry  Holkins 
Jane  Henderfon 
John  Hafline,  jun. 
John  Hailman 
John  Harper 
John  Harrifon 
John  Higgins 


Thomas  Grant,  Sunbury* 
Pennsylvania 

Thomas  M' Mullen  Gard- 
ner, Wilmington,  Del 

William  Gibbons 

William  A,  Grant 


Alphonzo  C.  Ireland 
Elizabeth  Ingram 
Imlay  &  Harper 
John  In  (keep 
David  Johnfcon 


H. 


John  Hurley 
Jofiah  Holmes 
Mahlon  Hutchinfon 
Maria  Hughs 
Margaret  Hains 
Mary  Harper 
Philip  Heyl 
Sarah  Hunter 
Sarah  Hutton 
Simon  Heligas 
Sufan  Henderfon 
Sufan  Hoffman 
Thomas  Hood 
Thomas  Hofkins 
William  Harnett 
William  Hart,  m.  d 


I.  &  J- 


Eleanor  Jenney 
Elizabeth  Jones 
Ifaac  Jones 

Jacob  Johnfon,  &'  Go. 
25  Copies 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 

J°hn  Jeffres  "~M^l^fon 

John  Johnfon  Mary  Jones 

John  Jones,  Attorney  at     Thomas  Janvier 

aw  .Thomas  Johnfon 


Catharine  Kingfton 
Charles  Kirkham 
Daniel  Knight 
Edmund  Kinfey 
Ezekiel  King 
Frederick  KifFelman 
George  D.  Knorr, 
(deceafed) 

Abraham  Lower 
Elizabeth  C.  Leiper 
James  Lackey 
James  Laverty 
J.  Lang,  jun. 
Eang  fcf  Uftick, 

1 2  copies 
John  Lille,  jun. 
Jofeph  Lownes 

Adam  Mendenhali 
Alexander  Miller 
Ann  M<  Pherfon 


K. 


Jacob  Knorr,jun. 

John  Kean 

John  Kidd,  Reading 

Berks  County 
John  King 
Luke  Kelly     * 
Margaret  Knapp 
Thomas  Kelley 


L. 


Laetitia  Lippineott 
Michael  Lewis 
Nathaniel  Lewis 
Peter  Lohra 
Samuel  Leacock 
Samuel  Levis 
WiJliam  Levis 
William  Linch 
William  Lyle 


M. 


Archibald  M'Callum 
Barney  Merkle,  Reading 

■  Berks  County 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


Blair  M'Clenachan 
Charles  Minifie 
David  M<  Calla 
Denis  M'Laughlin 
Eliflia  Moore 
Frederick  Meyers 
George  S.  Moore 
Henry  Mitchell 
Henry  Muhlenberg 
Hyraan  Marks 
Ifaac  Martin 
Ifaac  W.  Morris- 
I.  Minty 
James  Milnor,  Attorney 

at  Law 
James  Molony 
John  Martin 
John  Mearns 
John  Mc  Collom 
John  Mc  Donald 
John  Mc  Knight 
John  Mc  Laughlin 
John  Moore 
Jofeph  Matter 
Jofeph  Maxfield 
Jofeph  Miller 
L.  Mitner 
Lewis   Monroe 
Mary  Mafon 
Mary  M'Irmes 


Mary  Miller 

Michael  Moore 

Michael  Murphy 

M'Kenzie  iff  Weftcott, 
Bridge-Town,  New- 
Jerfey,    12  Copies 

Miller  &  Atwater,  Bar- 
lington,  New  Jsrfey, 
12  copies 

Nathan  Matthias 

Patrick  Moore 

Peter  tff  Henry  Mierken 

Robert  $!<  Kean 

Samuel  Mafon 

Thomas   Makpln 

Thomas  Matthias 

Thomas  Mifflin,  Gover- 
nor of  Pennfylvania 

Thomas  Moore 

Thomas  More,  jun. 

Timothy  Mouatford, 
copies 

W.  Mott 

Walter  Mairs 

William   Martin 

William  Miller 

William  Moore 

William.  Morgan^  m.  d. 
Ch'arkfion^  South  Ca- 
rolina 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


N. 


Enoch  Northrop 
James  Newark 
fohn  Newman 


Michael  Newbold 
Samuel  Nightlinger 
Thomas  Nelfon 


O. 


Anthony  Ogilvie 

Griffith  Owen 

John  Ormrod,  12  copies 


P.  O'Donnell,  3  copies 
Thomas  Ogle 
William  Owen 


Abraham  Painter 
Alexander  Power 
Daniel  Prelton 
David  Pimple 
George  Peter 
James  Potts 
John  Page 
John  Parker,  6  copies 

Ann  Ruffell 
Charles  Robertfon 
Elizabeth  Randolph, 
Richmond,  Virginia 
Elizabeth  Rhoads 
Elizabeth  Rowe 
Francis  Rifmg 
George  Rees 
George  Roberts 


P. 


John  J.  Parry- 
John  Paterfon 
John  Phillips 
Jofeph  Peart 
N.  Phillips 
Philip  Pancake 
Sarah  Pay  ran 
Thomas  Pickins 


R. 


H.  &f  P.  Rice 
Jacob  Rizer 
James  Reid 
James  Roche 
John  Rain 
John  Riever 
John  Rofs,  jun. 
Martin  Row,  jun. 
Mary  Rufb 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


Miles  Rourk 
Morgan  John  Rhees 
Samuel  Rhodes 

Abby  Skelleriger 
Alexander  Shaw 
Charles  SchafTer 
Charles  Shoemaker 
Charles  Smith 
Conrad  Seyfert,  8  copies 
Daniel  Smith 
Daniel  Sutherland 
Daniel  Sutter,  jun. 
Dorothy  Stone 
Edward  Scott 
Either  Sweetzer 
Francis  Shallus 
George  Schlofler 
George  Spain 
Jacob  Siddons 
James  H.  Sloan 
James  Smither 
James  Spotts 
James  Stuart,  m.  d. 

Benjamin  Thornton 
Elizabeth  Taylor 
George  Thompfon 
George  Tryon 


S. 


T. 


Samuel  Richards,  fen. 
Spicer  Rudderow 
Stephen  Rider 

John  Stroup 
Lawrence  Sink 
Mrs.  Stewart 
Mahlon  Scholfield 

Prince  George  County^ 

Maryland 
Margaret  Smith 
Maria  Shepherd 
Maria  Stephens 
Morgan  Sweeny 
Nicholas  Sullivan 
Peter  Seybert 
Rebecca  Sims 
Robert  Simpfon 
Samuel    Starr 
Sophia  Seckel 
Sower  £sf  Jones,  6  copies 
Thomas  Stephens,  12 

copies 
William  Semple 

Henry  Toland 
Ifaac  Tomkins 
Jacob  Thomas 
James  Tiiackara 


10 


SUBSCRIBERS'    NAMES. 


James  Truman 
John  R.  Taylor 
John  Thornhiil 
John  Thum 
John  Turner 

Henry  Van  Kleeck, 

Pcnghkeepjie 
James  Valliant 


V. 


J.  OzierThompfon,  m.d. 
Jonathan  Tyfon 
Leiley  Thompfon 
Thomas  Tillyer 
Thomas  Tuflain 

Jacobus  Vanoften, Los^r 

Dublin 
Thomas  Valerius 


W. 


Francis  Wilfon 
George  Wager 
George  Walters 
George  Watts 
George*  White 
George  Wilfon,  Mifflin 

county,  Pennfyhania 
Ifaac  Wainwright 
Ifaac  Warn  pole 
James  Whitehead 
James  Wilfon,  Judge  of 

the  Supreme  Court  ofabe 

United  States 
John  Wa^dington 

Y. 

Anthony  Yerkes 
Charles  Yarbrough 
John  F.  Young,  m.  d. 


John  Ward 

John  White 

Jofeph  Wirt 

Jofeph  Wright 

Mahlon  Wright 

Samuel  Wakeling,  6  cop. 

Samuel  Williamfon 

Samuel   Witman 

Thomas  White 

William  Watfon 

William  Wilfon,  Miles- 
burgh,  Mifflin  County 

William  W.  Woodward 
6  copies 

Z. 

Adam  Zantzinger 
Jacob  Zellcr 
John  Zeller. 


V 


m 


